The Opposing Movement
by BigFatNo
Summary: Christmas, 1993. Harry Potter is spotted in the company of wanted fugitive Sirius Black, and is forced on a dark, treacherous path. He is pursued from all directions by a Ministry intent on capturing him, and a seemingly immortal Voldemort always looms in the shadows. The road ahead will be dangerous for Harry, and the toll will be higher than ever before…
1. Chapter 1: Arrangement

For what felt like the thousandth time, Melchior Naaktgeboren flipped through his collection of news articles, torn out pages from newspapers and books, personal notes and drawings. He had no reason to do it, really, but the distinctly frightening thought of having nothing to do prevented him from laying it all aside and putting it out of his head. He glanced at his watch. He should have heard something by now, received a message like he did every day these past four months. But nothing. The wait was maddening.

He looked back at his notebook, and turned a page. Three columns written by concerned parents of Hogwarts students, voicing their disagreement with the way the school was being operated and considering whether or not to pull their children out. They had every right to do so of course, considering everything that had been occurring. First the happenings with the Philosopher's Stone and the death of a teacher, then all those attacks from last year, and the cherry on the cake was that Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban.

And it all revolved around Harry Potter.

He turned another page and saw his favourite news article again:

 **BOY WHO LIVED ARRIVES AT HOGWARTS AT LAST; IS SORTED INTO SLYTHERIN!**

He grinned at the irony of it all. The boy had been a hero, the vanquisher of the most fearsome Dark Lord Britain had ever seen. Of course they latched onto his story. They needed a good guy, a beacon of light during the dark times of the War and its rocky aftermath.

It was funny, yet sad at the same time to see from a distance how a wizard under the pseudonym "Claudius Cuculiformus" made obscene amounts of money off the Boy-Who-Lived hype, selling adventure tales, children's stories, and, most laughable of all, Boy-Who-Lived dolls for all the little girls to play with.

But with that one word, it all changed. All those people who praised him, all those people who were so adamant against discrimination because of blood-status all turned on him. Because he got sorted into the wrong House. Good against Bad. Gryffindor against Slytherin. Keep it up long enough, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

He had time to spare, so he opened the section that contained all the news articles he'd collected over the years.

 **HARRY POTTER: MURDERER?**

 _Boy Who Lived: Boy Who Killed?_

 _Following "Hogwarts Professor dead!"_

 _June 4th, 1992_

 _By correspondent Rita Skeeter_

 _One of our trusted sources found out last night that the late Professor Quirinus Quirrell had not simply died. No, it appears that Professor Quirrell was actually killed while trying to locate the famed 'Philosopher's Stone', a creation of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel (who were unavailable for commentary). It is not yet known who killed him. However, we have uncovered that none other than Harry Potter was the only person who was with him when he died._

 _Potter, known as the 'Boy Who Lived', is currently in his first year at Hogwarts and is notoriously housed in Slytherin._

 _This new information raises a lot of troubling questions: Why would Professor Quirrell try to locate this stone? Why was Potter there as well? What could an eleven year old boy possibly want with such a powerful and precious artefact?_

 _Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, assured us that the stone is safe, and that the Flamels have given permission to destroy it as soon as possible. He also claims that Professor Quirrell was a dark wizard, intent on stealing the Stone for his personal gain. He does not, however, answer any questions about Potter, which leaves the question: are your students safe at Hogwarts? Does the headmaster have his school under control?_

 _Meanwhile, the Board of Governors has filed an official complaint against Dumbledore for interfering with the investigation of Quirrell's death. Mr Lucius Malfoy, member of the Board of Governors, has the following to say about it:_

 _"One of the tasks of the Governors is to ensure the students of Hogwarts that they can happily learn in a safe and secure environment. The death of Mr Quirrell has shocked us all, and we wonder how safe Hogwarts really is under the leadership of Dumbledore."_

 _More concerning this matter on page 4._

 _A short biography about Harry Potter can be found on page 6._

He wondered how Rita Skeeter found out all this. She must have overheard something she shouldn't have, because he couldn't imagine Albus Dumbledore freely revealing this much information about the happenings at his school. The man liked his secrets too much for that.

 **ALBUS DUMBLEDORE SUSPENDED AS HEADMASTER!**

 _May 9th, 1993_

 _On the night of May 8th, an official request to remove Albus Dumbledore, age 111, as the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was unanimously signed by the Ministry of Magic's Board of Governors. This decision has been made following the numerous attacks on Hogwarts students the past year, the culprit being the mysterious 'Heir of Slytherin'._

 _Mr Lucius Malfoy, head of the Board of Governors, has the following to say about this radical decision:_

 _"We, the members of the Board of Governors, are terribly concerned for the safety of the Hogwarts students. It has become clear this year that the Headmaster can no longer guarantee this safety of our children. Many of us were already shocked by the death of Professor Quirinus Quirrell last year and the fact that the Headmaster let Harry Potter go unpunished, following this tragic happening. And now there are these horrible attacks on students, a cat, and even one of the resident Ghosts of the castle. It was enough for us, and we decided to take action. We hope that by removing Albus Dumbledore as a headmaster and assigning a new, more competent figure next school year will help us make Hogwarts a safe and proper school again."_

 _Some Ministry officials have been talking about closing the school to ensure the safety of the students. An official proposal hasn't been made yet, but we at the Daily Prophet think that this is only a matter of time._

 _Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall will temporarily assume the role of Headmistress, and her decision is to have the school remain open for now._

 _Rumours suggest that Harry Potter is guilty of these attacks, as he was seen at a scene of crime at two separate occasions, among which the first one, on the eve of Halloween._

 _Witnesses say that when they walked back to their dormitories after the traditional Halloween Feast and came across this scene, they found the presence of none other than Harry Potter himself. Mr Potter was unavailable for commentary, but Mr Draco Malfoy, 12, son of Lucius Malfoy, was gracious enough to grant us an interview:_

 _"[…] When I came around the corner, I saw Potter standing there, very close to the cat […] No, I didn't see him casting any spells, but Potter did look very nervous, like he was caught doing something illegal. […] After a while, we were sent away by the Headmaster."_

 _It has also become clear that Potter is a Parselmouth, a trait that is commonly considered Dark Magic, because of its relation to Dark Wizards through the ages, most notable examples being Salazar Slytherin and, most recently, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. There are some Ministry officials who would like to bring Mr. Potter into pre-emptive custody and question him about the attacks and the death of Quirinus Quirrell._

 _A chronology of the Hogwarts Attacks can be found on page 7._

 _The full interview with Lucius Malfoy can be found on page 9._

 **MADNESS AT HOGWARTS!**

 _May 30th, 1993_

 _Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry has been host to a series of peculiar and mysterious events yesterday. Lionel Wartstump, reporter for the Daily Prophet, has made a report of the event:_

 _Under mysterious circumstances yesterday, Harry Potter, 12, entered the Chamber of Secrets, a mythical chamber deep within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that many previously considered merely a myth. He emerged some time later with Ginevra Weasley, age 11._

 _Eye witnesses state that both had looked rather tired, their robes were filthy and torn, and Potter had an extremely large amount of blood on his robes. Most puzzling perhaps was that they were in the presence of a Phoenix. Both were unavailable for commentary, as we were denied access to the school's Hospital Wing, where both students are currently resting._

 _According to Albus Dumbledore, Potter had apparently killed the monster of Slytherin, which turned out to be a Basilisk (!). The Heir of Slytherin turned out to be, as quoted by the Headmaster: "a dark artefact controlling the monster [...]"_

 _Dumbledore, who was reinstated as Headmaster of Hogwarts after the happenings of yesterday, provided little more information. His title as headmaster was given back to him after multiple members of the Board of Governors revealed that they were blackmailed into signing the document that forced Dumbledore's removal as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sadly, their memories regarding this matter seemed to have been tempered with, and the culprit is still unknown. The DMLE is currently investigating these allegations._

 _The limited information we've been given only raises more questions. What was a little girl doing in the Chamber of Secrets? How did Potter know where to find the entrance? How did he kill the monster?_

 _Anita Charlesbury, Healer at St Mungo's and granddaughter of Henry Charlesbury, the famous Potions Master who invented the restorative draught that had been used to revive the students, the cat and the ghost that had been petrified by the basilisk's stare, has the following to say about it:_

 _"I think it's a plot to clear Potter's name," she said in an interview with Ms Rita Skeeter. "Potter is dangerous. He killed a professor and he's also a parselmouth. It's a rather suspicious coincidence, if you ask me, that the monster turned out to be a basilisk. Potter is a Parselmouth, after all. He can talk to snakes, and if he can talk to a basilisk, he could also command them to do his bidding, couldn't he? [...] If the story is true, how could Potter kill it? Why would he even have to if he could just talk to the beast? It wouldn't surprise me if he used Dark Magic to murder it."_

 _Mrs Charlesbury raises good questions that will hopefully be answered soon. Meanwhile, Hogwarts remains open despite severe doubts and some protests from the Ministry._

 _A detailed statement from Albus Dumbledore can be found on page 5._

 _The full interview with Mrs Anita Charlesbury can be found also on page 5._

There was no more doubt after reading this. Harry Potter was not just in the wrong place at the wrong time. No, there was more going on than what was reported in the newspapers, and it troubled him greatly. For months after this article appeared in the newspaper he'd had the same sentence stuck in his head: _not again_.

 **MASS-MURDERER SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPED FROM AZKABAN!**

 _July 6th, 1993_

 _Earlier today, on July the 6th, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban and is currently on the run from the Ministry. The Department of Magical Law enforcement has mentioned in an official press conference that they have started a manhunt immediately and will be using Dementors to attempt to capture Black._

 _We of the Daily Prophet urge you to be extremely cautious. Black is the first person to have escaped from the prison in its nearly 200 year history, yet no one knows how he did so. The DMLE doesn't exclude the possibility that he used Dark Magic to escape._

 _Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge has issued a statement regarding the escape:_

 _"We at the Ministry are of course deeply shocked by this event and we will be doing a full investigation on how Black escaped. No other criminal shall escape Azkaban under my watch. And rest assured, the Aurors are doing everything they can to apprehend Black. I can guarantee you that he'll be back in Azkaban before you know it."_

 _Black, 33, is notorious for killing thirteen people with one curse in 1981, one of the victims being the late Peter Pettigrew, Order of Merlin, First Class, and former friend of Black. The Ministry warns all witches and wizards not to approach Black, but to contact the Ministry as soon as possible in the case of a sighting instead._

 _More about Sirius Black on page 3._

 _A transcript of the press conference held by the Ministry can be found on page 24._

Well, it was now almost half a year later, and Black was still not apprehended. So much for Fudge's promise. But that was not surprising to him. That British Ministry was a working disaster that needed a good shake-up.

He had wondered why Black escaped, apart from the Dementors and cursed walls of Azkaban. Personally, he'd rather die than be locked up there. But there had to be something else behind it. He had his suspicions back then, he was sure of it now. For him, the most important part of this had been that it was yet another event that was connected to Harry Potter.

The moment he first saw that article was when he stopped sitting on the side-lines, and the past four months he had Potter thoroughly watched and followed. He had no choice. All the warning signs were there, and he knew he would never forgive himself if he ignored them.

He sighed and turned another few pages. Now he was getting to the section that he despised the most: gossip magazines. He had no shame in collecting pages from _Teen Witch Weekly_ , but reading it always guaranteed to make him nauseous. Still, the gossipy magazine often wrote about Potter, and, more importantly, held interviews with his classmates. He wasn't about to let such valuable insights pass by.

He eyed a garish, cluttered page with a heart-shaped picture of Potter prominently smacked in the middle in distaste, and resignedly began reading.

 **HARRY POTTER: CUTE, DARK, MYSTERIOUS; TAKEN?**

 _24th of October, 1993_

 _Although Harry Potter is generally seen as a dangerous fellow, few witches can argue with his dark, mysterious attraction. What lies beneath that cute, maturing exterior? What secrets does the teen hide behind those gorgeous green eyes? Many girls have been dying to find out for a long time, but Harry has remained a true mystery to everyone. Until now._

 _Because it seems that our controversial superstar is growing up. A few of our readers have told us that lately Harry has been seen more and more often in the company of another girl: Ginny Weasley! Is love blooming in the air?_

 _Ginny, 12, a Pureblood witch from Devon, briefly made the national news last summer when she was kidnapped and taken into the fabled Chamber of Secrets. Little is known about what really happened down there, but it now seems that the two involved students have formed a bond over it._

 _Mandy Brocklehurst, 13, is one of our readers that tipped us off about this new, exciting development:_

 _"_ _Yes, they're almost inseparable lately! Ginny is in a lower year of course, so they still have separate classes, but apparently that's no problem! […] No, I haven't seen them kiss. Ginny does often give Harry a hug when she leaves for her lessons, but I haven't seen anything else. And if you ask me, it's often just Ginny that hugs him. Harry doesn't hug her back!"_

 _Other readers report about the same. Is it really love, or is it just friendship? Or does the lack of more intimate contact from Harry's side indicate unrequited love, and will poor Ginny have her heart broken?_

 _Although most of us are happy for Harry if he did indeed find himself his first love, there are a few readers who are less pleased with this new development. Pansy Parkinson, 13, says:_

 _"_ _No, of course I don't like it! Potter is dangerous! He's hurt my friend, Draco Malfoy, a lot of times for no reason! And he never talks to me either, even though we share age and House. I'm worried that a Pureblood Witch like Weasley is going to get corrupted by Potter."_

 _We of_ Teen Witch Weekly _will of course follow this intriguing story and keep you updated as best as we can!_

Well, speaking as the man who'd heard every conversation Potter had from the moment his spy cast a whole array of charms on the boy, right before he left for Hogwarts this September, Harry and Ginny definitely aren't an item. Young Harry did manage to find himself a girl, but that blooming relationship was doomed to fail. It was tragic, really. He thought wistfully of the last time he himself felt such a spark of love, but he buried those feelings as soon as they welled up. That was over. She was gone, and had taken his heart with her.

He was mercifully interrupted from further thoughts by his mailbox glowing brightly for a moment, and a note appearing in it. He reached over as best as he could with his rapidly deteriorating body, and picked up the piece of paper.

 _"_ _I've got them. Not safe anymore with Aurors around. Bringing them home."_

That was all it said, but it was enough for him. More than enough. He smiled in triumph and relief, and closed his notebook. He stood up, walked out through the small front door and took a deep breath of the wintry fresh mountain air.

Finally. Months and months he waited and waited, but that was all over now. His spy, his adopted daughter named Selene, had done it. Oh, how proud he was of her. She was damaged, he knew, and a danger to herself. But perhaps… perhaps this new development would be good for her.

He opened his eyes and looked around at his surroundings. The view was still as stunning as it was that day he first arrived here, bruised and bloodied, with a crying little girl clinging to him for dear life.

"It's happening, my darling," he whispered into the night. "It won't be long, now."

He would have been quite content to simply stand there just a little longer, but he had much more important things to do. He patted his thighs, turned around abruptly and entered his house again. There was a lot to be done now, and he knew time would be running out soon.

* * *

At that very same time, much further south, separated from millions of Londoners by only a thin layer of cobble, piping, clay, the remains of civilizations long fallen, and an old reinforced ceiling, the British Wizengamot assembled.

Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, seated at his central position in the body, was impressed by the attendance. It wasn't often that every seat was filled. Last time was… well; only half a year ago, but circumstances were dire lately. It reminded him a lot of the War that ended twelve years ago, and he didn't like it one bit.

"All those in favour of increasing the budget of the Auror Office?" A shaky, fragile old man named Bertie Butterby asked from the seat of the Supreme Mugwump. The usually commanding presence of Albus Dumbledore wasn't there, as the man was unable to attend.

The mess about Sirius Black, Harry Potter and that girl whose name Cornelius couldn't quite remember centred on Hogwarts, after all, and there was much to be done there as well. Dumbledore had to make a choice between the Wizengamot and the school tonight, and as always he chose the latter. Cornelius held up his hand along with almost everyone else. He was pleased with the outcome of the vote, but not surprised.

"All those against?" Bertie asked. Only a few older Purebloods held up their hands, no doubt displeased about the increasing taxes this meant.

"It has been accepted, then. The new budget for the Auror Office has been approved, and it will take effect starting this January." A pleased murmur filled the large chamber.

"Attention please!" Bertie called as best has his throat would allow. It was only the eagerness of everyone to go home and celebrate Christmas that quieted the council down. "Lastly then, two motions have been requested by Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge." Cornelius felt a thrill from the attention suddenly aimed at him. Bertie spoke again.

"Ahem. Motion number one reads: _"that Sirius Orion Black, convicted of betraying the Potter family and killing thirteen people, suspect in the kidnapping of Ginevra Molly Weasley, be sentenced with the Dementor's Kiss, and that it be enforced immediately upon capture_. _"_ "

Again people started murmuring, this time much more excitedly. Bertie once again called everyone's attention. He had to use his hammer a few times.

"All those in favour?" Everyone raised their hand.

"All those against?" It was only a formality, of course. "It is accepted." Though that was drowned out by the many conversations that sprung up immediately, ranging from gossip about the happenings of the past few days, to how everyone would be celebrating Christmas when this emergency meeting was over.

"Attention please, attention _please!_ " The crowd grew silent again, but this time it was a charged, agitated silence. Everyone knew what the last motion would read. Everyone knew it would become the headline of newspapers across Britain, perhaps even across the entire Wizarding World, for days to come. Bertie adjusted his glasses with frail, shaking hands.

"Ahem, thank you. The second motion reads: _"that Harry James Potter, guilty of assaulting Hogwarts Professor Remus John Lupin, suspected accomplice of convicted criminal Sirius Orion Black, suspect in the kidnapping of Ginevra Molly Weasley, and suspect of opening the Chamber of Secrets and threatening the entire population of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by unleashing a Basilisk within the school, be outcast in all of Britain, and arrested immediately upon sight."_ "

A few whispers and hushes.

"All those in favour?" Cornelius held up his hand with as much conviction as he could, hoping it would sway the last few that were still in doubt. He looked around. It was going to be close. Very, very close. Bertie took his time counting.

"All those against?" Cornelius held his breath. These were the moments that could make or break Ministers. Making the Boy Who Lived an outcast was incredibly risky. He wanted to sentence the brat to Azkaban for a very long time as well, but then he would overextend his hand, and that would almost certainly lead to a Vote of No Confidence, ending his precious reign as Minister for Magic immediately. He wasn't about to let that happen. Bertie, aided by the secretary next to him, counted the hands again. Finally he spoke.

"It is accepted."

The room erupted, but Cornelius was too relieved to be bothered by that. He breathed out shakily. He was good. Sometimes risk does pay off.

After a few minutes things calmed down again. Bertie closed the meeting and the members of the Wizengamot started exiting the courtroom. Cornelius made his obligatory round of greetings to the Wizengamot members, but he had little time today, even though it was Christmas. He caught the eye of Lucius Malfoy, his biggest source of income, and then exited the courtroom.

He turned right instead of left, and ambled down the dark, imposing corridor as fast as his pudgy form allowed. He didn't have to look behind him to know that he was being followed. Finally satisfied that he was out of hearing distance of the people exiting the courtroom, he turned around and waited for the other man to catch up.

"That went rather well, don't you think, Lucius?" He asked the tall, aristocratic man.

"As well as it could have gone, I'd say," Lucius replied. "But the fact remains that Black is still at large, and those two children are now with him, voluntarily or not. And don't forget that they've escaped the Aurors in Paris just last night too. I heard the French Ministry wasn't too happy with a destroyed train and hundreds of deeply shocked Muggles, claiming to have seen _"de la magie"._ I think we can only rest easy once they're apprehended and dealt with accordingly."

"Yes, I definitely agree with that," Cornelius said, cringing slightly at the mention of the failed Auror mission in France. In less than an hour he would be meeting with the French Minister for Magic, and, more worryingly, the moody, impatient and oh so arrogant _Roi_ of Wizarding France, King Charles IX. He wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest. This morning's Daily Prophet was all too eager to write about the Ministry's incompetence, too. He hoped he would be able to work his way out of all this pressure.

"We should have arrested Potter while we still had the chance," Lucius said.

"Of course, of course, but you know how it is, dear man. As Minister for Magic, you're always one misstep away from a vote of non-confidence. And don't forget that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had blocked every single attempt to bring the boy in, too."

"True," Lucius said. "But still. Potter is now with Black, and they've taken the girl with them now, too. We can only guess at what they're up to."

They stopped their conversation as a few Ministry employees walked by.

"Afternoon, Minister," one said, nodding at the pair, but eyeing Cornelius' advisor warily. The man's reputation wasn't quite what it used to be after those rumours surrounding the Board of Governors and the Chamber of Secrets. They nodded back and waited until they were around the corner before they spoke again.

"But let's not despair, Lucius, the trace is still working. We can't quite track them down now, but once they step out of line, we'll know their exact whereabouts, regardless of their location."

"Unless they're in a country that blocks our magic monitors."

"That would only be a minor setback, Lucius. It's all politics: anyone can be persuaded."

"True," Lucius said. "Very true."

"Anyway, we haven't got all day. Places to be, you know, I've still got a long night ahead of me… Err, you know the way out, don't you?"

"I certainly do. Good luck in France, Cornelius."

"I'll need it. Afternoon, Lucius. Give my regards to Narcissa and Draco, will you? And congratulations on the upcoming betrothal of your son, by the way."

"Thank you, Minister."

* * *

Many miles north, in one of the few towers of the castle that still had light shining behind the windows, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts sank into his chair behind his desk in his office. Despite his age, he very rarely had moments where he truly believed he was getting too old, but when he did, like now for instance, it came in full force.

But it wasn't really just the happenings of the past few days that made him so tired, although getting shouted at by a desperate and hysteric Molly Weasley for half an hour certainly didn't help. No, the trouble started the day Sybil Trelawney made that prophecy. Or maybe the day he invited Tom Riddle to Hogwarts. Perhaps even the day man was given an "us versus them" way of thinking. In the end, that night twelve years ago, he, the very same person who had invited Tom Riddle to Hogwarts, had to decide over young Harry's fate. He would never know whether he'd made the right decision.

He was saved from further thoughts by Severus Snape coming up the staircase leading into his office.

"Come in, Severus," he said after discretely changing the plain wooden chair in front of his desk into a pink fluffy sofa. Albus found it looked enticingly comfortable. He looked up, and the only man with whom he could share his worries and thoughts about Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort strode into the room. His sneer was a bit more pronounced, and he eyed the chair with displeasure.

"Good evening, Headmaster."

"Good evening, Severus," Albus said. "Sit down. How are you enjoying Christmas thus far?"

"The only hope for the entire Wizarding World has been abducted by Sirius Black," Severus replied without preamble. He sank down into the chair. "And Sybil has had too much sherry again. She is currently predicting the most horrible deaths of all of the staff members."

"Ah, yes, dear Sybil does have a knack for the dramatic, doesn't she? Why, only a few months ago she told me a centaur would break into my office and-" Severus made an impatient noise. Albus sighed, and decided to get to the matters at hand. "I suppose you're right. Circumstances are dire, indeed. But I'm afraid we can't do much about it, now that they've apparently disappeared into the continent."

"And you're sure that wasn't a ploy? They could very well only have gone to Paris just to fool everyone into thinking they're actually leaving Britain."

"Quick to point out the problem as always, Severus," Albus said. "We don't know anything. Right now, the Ministry has a better chance of finding them, with the trace still active on Mr Potter and Miss Weasley."

"And your monitors don't show Potter's location?"

"No. They only show me that he is in a perfectly good condition, and his mother's protection seems unaffected still. The protections around the Dursley's house have fallen, so that must mean that the Ministry did indeed outcast Harry."

"But the fact that he's still in good health confirms that the boy is in cahoots with Black," Severus said. "If not, both children would be dead by now."

"It seems that there's no other explanation, Severus. I must admit that this is the last thing I expected from Harry."

"You always were blinded around the boy, Albus. The signs were there. Yes, the newspapers were quick to condemn him without knowing all of the true happenings, but you still knew he wasn't like you'd hoped he would be."

Albus stroked his long beard. "I admit that you're right. Hindsight is, at moments like these, a terrible thing."

"Of course I'm right!" Severus hissed. "You saw him, sneaking around in the Restricted Section, always gathering more knowledge outside of normal curriculum. I know my House, and I know its history, Albus. And so do you."

"But you must not forget that it was your House that drove him to his isolation in the first place, Severus. No, Harry being a curious and eager student wasn't what worried me. It was more that he never sought out my help. Or anyone else's for that matter. He acted on his own, and thus without any restriction." He took off his small half-moon spectacles and tiredly rubbed his eyes.

"So you've lost all control over the boy," Severus said.

"I have," he sighed.

"And now?"

Albus put on his glasses and stared out the window again. The sun was disappearing behind the mountaintops now, and one by one, the houses of Hogsmeade were being lit for the night.

"I don't know."


	2. Chapter 2: Stockpiled

"Harry," Tom Riddle whispered. His voice reverbed throughout the Chamber and echoed all around him. It was like he was in every shadow, behind every pillar, and yet right behind him all the same, whispering in his ear.

Something very strange happened then. The shadows merged, collided, solidified, and a young Tom Riddle stepped into the light. His handsome features stretched and changed, his arms fused to his body, his legs locked together, and with agonising slowness he grew to truly monstrous proportions. His flashing red eyes morphed into deadly yellow ones.

The Basilisk towered above him and this time he wasn't getting away. Its tongue tasted the air and never took its eyes off Harry's as it prepared to strike.

 _"Kill,"_ it hissed and it attacked.

Harry woke up with a start. He blinked a few times, and then found himself staring into a pair of bright brown eyes.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Ginny Weasley replied.

Harry looked around and found himself slumped in the backseat of a car, and quite a large one, judging by the low rumbling sound of the engine. He saw Sirius in the passenger seat, his head lolled to the side and his eyes closed. It was completely dark outside and he couldn't see where they were.

He tried to sit up to get a better view out of the window, but he found himself tied down and unable to move.

"Oh, good, you're awake," someone said from the front seat. A girl, maybe five or six years older than him was looking at him in the rear-view mirror while driving the car. She had light blond hair, dark blue eyes and a slim, sharp face. Harry could see the hood and sleeves of her brown parka from his position in the backseat.

"Before you start, don't even bother trying to escape. I've taken your wand away, so that won't work either," the girl said, aware of any move Harry tried to make.

"I've already tried. Just don't bother," Ginny said from beside him.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, his agitation growing as the drowsiness faded. "What happened to the Aurors?"

"We're in Norway," the girl answered. She had a strange accent, quite British, but not at all at the same time. "I took care of the Aurors for you, and now we're here. I'm taking you to safety."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Selene. Your taxi driver for today."

Harry looked at Ginny again. She looked nervous, tired and uncomfortable, probably from being tied down, but not scared.

"She saved us on that train, Harry," she whispered to him.

"Can we trust her?" Harry whispered back. He tried to lean in closer to her, but the ropes didn't allow that.

"No idea."

"I healed your arm," the girl named Selene said. "It'll probably still be a little bit sore, but at least it's not broken anymore."

"What?"

Selene sighed and looked at him in the mirror again. "I have kept you three asleep in a safe house for almost 24 hours now. I had to take you away because there were Aurors everywhere, and, well... I've been ordered to take you to where we are going as soon as I could."

"But I don't understand. How did you find us? What's going on here?"

"You've been asking exactly the same questions Ginny did. There's no doubt that Sirius here will want some answers as well when he finally wakes up. Could you… keep your questions to yourself for now? It's a long story."

Harry reluctantly complied. He asked Ginny how she was instead.

"I'm fine," she replied. "I mean, other than being tied up and taken to who knows where, of course." Selene snorted but kept her eyes on the road ahead.

"But you took a nasty cut-"

"It's _fine_ , honestly. Selene healed me as well."

Sirius woke up then with a loud gasp and some more bewildered sounds when he realized he was tied down. Selene cuffed the back of his head to gain his attention, and Sirius froze when he took sight of her.

"You! You were in the train, weren't you? Who are you? Where am I? Where's Harry?" He looked behind him as best as his ropes allowed, and let out a breath when he saw Harry and Ginny from the corner of his eye. "Harry! Ginny! Thank goodness you're safe!"

"Yes, calm down, they're safe alright, calm down," Selene said.

"Who are you?" Sirius demanded again. "Are you from the Ministry?"

"No, I'm not. I couldn't be further from the Ministry, actually," Selene replied. Harry noted the impatience in her voice.

"So why have you abducted us, then?"

"Oh, did you want me to leave you out there in Paris, with Aurors swarming all over the place? You'd have been captured if it weren't for me! I've done you three a _favour_!"

"So what are you going to do with us, then?" Harry asked challengingly.

"Me? I'm going to drive us up the hill here, then walk you to my house, introduce you to someone and then start cooking dinner for you. And maybe cast a silencing charm on you too, if you keep asking so many questions," she snapped.

"And you're not going to hurt us?" Ginny asked.

"Honestly," Selene huffed. "If I wanted to see you three hurt, I would have left you three to your own devices in that fight."

"But-"

"No!" Selene said, holding up a hand to stop Sirius from talking. "You've asked enough questions already. Either you're going to shut up, or I'll glue your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Got it?"

For a moment it looked like Sirius was going to continue. He glared at her in fury and Harry was quite prepared to back him up if he started shouting. But he didn't. He threw one last dirty look at Selene, then looked away.

Harry relaxed his shoulders somewhat and tried to look out of the window, but it was so dark outside he could only see his reflection. He wondered where they were. He shared a worried look with Ginny, but they both kept silent as they drove on.

"We're here," Selene said after a while, still sounding annoyed. "We're quite far north in Norway, so it'll be a bit cold." They suddenly turned a sharp left, and Harry would have fallen over if it weren't for his seatbelt. The car stopped and Selene turned it off. She turned in her seat to face the others.

"I'm going to help you get out of the car now. You'll be able to walk, but nothing more. Try anything funny and I'll get creative. And don't bother trying to run either, because there are miles and miles of mountains, cliffs and woods around us. Clear?" Harry resisted the urge to snap at her.

She opened her door and an unbelievably cold gust of wind flew into the car. A moment later she opened the door on Harry's side, grabbed the ropes behind his back and pulled him out of the car. He sank to his shins into snow as he stepped onto the ground.

"Are you going to leave us out here?" He asked.

"Out here?" Selene said, puzzled. "Why would I do that?" She dragged him along to the boot and opened it without another word. Harry was surprised when he saw all their backpacks in there, plus a few other bags he didn't recognise. She let him go for a moment and grabbed all of them.

If Harry wanted to flee, he couldn't even do it. His arms were tied so tightly behind his back it hurt and the ropes looked too tough to break. In his mind he saw himself running away, tripping, and falling face-first into the snow. Without his arms, he wouldn't be able to get up or roll over for air. And Selene did have a point: if she wanted to hurt them, why did she help them fight the Aurors in Paris?

The girl closed the boot after managing to sling all five bags over her slim shoulders, barely able to reach the lid. She was a bit taller than him, but then again, Harry was quite small for his age. And now that they were outside, Harry could see that the car was a very large and very tall SUV. Selene dragged him along again and pulled Ginny and Sirius out as well.

"It's not that far, so you'll be inside by a fire soon. Now start walking."

The place had an eerie sort of atmosphere, Harry thought as they started walking along a snow-covered path that led them up a steep hill. His mind felt like it was afternoon, but the sun was nowhere to be seen. It was dark, but not the usual black of night. The sky was packed with dark grey clouds and everything was cast in a strange blue and grey light.

It wasn't easy to keep his balance and wading uphill through the snow with his arms tied was tiring, so he was glad when the small path through the trees finally started to level out. He tried to catch his breath for a moment, but Selene prodded him in his back and ordered him to keep walking. Harry felt his feet growing numb from the cold. The bottoms of his trouser legs were soaked, and his new shoes were apparently not as waterproof as the salesman had assured him.

He couldn't help but smile at the memory, though. After buying a wand for Sirius in the Parisian magical shopping centre, _Rue de Mentaire_ , Ginny insisted on buying new clothes for the three of them as well. Because they had to flee from the Aurors back at Hogwarts, they had nothing with them except for some food and other things Harry had brought with him. After all, he thought he was merely packing for a quick visit to Sirius. They were lucky that Sirius was at least somewhat prepared, and had a large sack of galleons and pounds that he'd withdrawn from Gringotts last summer.

So Ginny wanted to buy new clothes for them. And Harry had never seen her act so… girly as then, dashing around in the stores, picking out the things that she thought would suit Harry. It was certainly different from her usual attitude. Often times he didn't even think about the fact that she was, in fact, a girl.

The path finally evened out. They turned left, passed a few snow-covered boulders, and a house came into view.

Harry didn't know what he expected. Maybe an ominous castle, a creepy dungeon or perhaps an old, large mansion. But the house wasn't anything like that. It was more of a shack, really, made of dark wooden planks and a roof that had grass sticking out through the snow, and it rested on top of a foundation of mismatched stones and rocks. It stood in a small clearing and was surrounded by a thick forest of many evergreens and wispy, leafless deciduous trees. And everything was covered in a thick layer of snow.

The scene reminded Harry of some of the holiday folders Aunt Petunia used to receive. They often had a few pages that were covered in photos of incredible cliffs, fjords, forests, and mountain huts like these. _"That true Nordic experience"_ , it used to say. The folders always ended up in the bin after a comment like "ruddy hippies" _._ Harry wondered if _"that true Nordic experience"_ included cold, tiredness, soaked frozen feet and total darkness.

The small wooden front door to the house opened and let out a large, broad figure. Harry couldn't quite see their face in the blueish dark, but he did see that the person was large, and very broad.

Selene stepped up from behind Harry and darted through the snow towards the figure as fast as she could, and to Harry's surprise she tackled the large, shadowy and looming person in a fierce hug. The pair swayed back and forth for a while, but just when Harry thought he saw his chance to run away, the two strangers broke their embrace. Selene ran into the house, and the other person slowly started approaching them.

Harry could finally make out his face as he got closer. Like his posture, his face was large as well. He had a wide, straight, long nose, thick eyebrows, a wide mouth, and black, greying locks fell around his face. Even from this distance Harry could see circles under his eyes and many wrinkles marring his otherwise handsome face. His stylishly trimmed black beard, marked with many grey streaks, combined with his long black hair reminded Harry a little of the way Sirius looked on the wedding pictures in Harry's photo album of his parents, only this man was much older and more worn-down. His back was also very crooked.

"Welcome!" The man said. His voice was loud, he was almost bellowing. "You'll have to forgive Selene for the unpleasant introduction. If you'll follow me inside, I'll untie you. There's a warm fire too, and some warm drinks."

Harry, Ginny and Sirius exchanged looks. Seeing no other possibility, they followed the hunched man inside.

A minute later, after they'd donned their jackets and shoes, the four people were seated at a wooden dining table inside the house, Harry, Ginny and Sirius, now untied, on one end, and the large man on the other. They had yet to see Selene.

It was, Harry decided, quite a cosy room they were in. Behind him were the front door and a narrow, steep stairway leading upstairs to the left of it that partially hung above the table they were currently sitting at. Next to the table was a small seating area, with a couch, two large sofas and a fireplace made of many mismatched stones that were cemented together. A fire crackled merrily inside it, making the living room pleasantly warm, and Harry felt his feet thaw again. Some carpets and animal furs made the room look very hospitable, too. In any case, it certainly beat being out in the freezing cold.

"First off, let me introduce myself," the man said. "My name is Melchior Naaktgeboren. For now, I think you have a lot of questions for me, don't you?"

"We do," Sirius said guardedly.

"And I understand completely. But it'll have to wait for a moment. I think you're all in dire need of a warm drink, aren't you?" Melchior asked.

While the thought of a hot drink sounded very appealing to Harry, he was still reluctant to readily accept something from the man. True, he seemed friendly enough and not very threatening, but there was still something about him that stopped Harry from simply trusting the man. Maybe it was his unsettlingly strong voice, or the fact that Harry hadn't seen him smile even once yet. Maybe it was his oddly shaped back that contrasted so strangely with the rest of his appearance. Maybe it was the fact that they were still on the run from the Ministry and were suddenly rescued from a group of Aurors just last night by a young woman named Selene, and he wasn't quite sure yet whether they could trust her. Perhaps it was a combination of it all. Either way, Ginny and Sirius seemed equally wary of the large man.

"Alright, no drinks yet, then," Melchior said. "But I'm still making a cup of tea for myself. You three make yourself at home." And with that, he vanished through a door opening at the far end of the living room. If not for his hunched form, he would have been much too tall for the low ceiling in the house.

"What do you think?" Harry asked the other two after the door closed.

"I'm not sure," Sirius said. "He seems friendly enough, but I'm not inclined to just trust anyone, if I'm honest."

"Me neither," Ginny said. "This is all just going too quickly for me."

"I know," Harry said. "We left Hogwarts, what, two days ago, didn't we?"

"If what that girl said was true, then yeah," Sirius said. "So it's now… boxing day?"

"Christmas day," Ginny corrected him quietly.

"So what do we do, Sirius?" Harry asked. He noticed him shooting glances at the front door. "We could escape now if you want to."

Sirius hesitated. He ran a hand over his gaunt, filthy face. "We wait and see," he finally said. "I don't like this one bit, but it doesn't seem like we have much of a choice here. It's either staying here or getting lost and freezing to death. Let's wait and hear what they've got to say for themselves."

The only sounds Harry heard while they waited for their host to return were the crackling of the fireplace and the occasional whistle of the wind coming through small seams and holes in the walls. After a while, Melchior entered again, with two big steaming mugs in his hands and Selene trailing behind him. Melchior set the mugs down on the table and the two sat down opposite of Harry, Ginny and Sirius.

"Well then, questions." he said, stirring his drink, and looking at his three guests. In the dim light of the fire, Harry noticed he had green eyes, much like his own, but his gaze was sharp, a bit like Dumbledore's. It contrasted sharply with his tired, wrinkled and slightly sagged face.

"Right," Sirius said. "You can start by explaining what you want from us."

"Selene hasn't told you much yet, hasn't she?" Sirius shook his head. "Alright." Melchior stood up, walked to a couple of bookshelves that were mounted on the wall close to the dining table and grabbed a thick, worn-down notebook from it. He sat back down with a soft grunt and put the book down on the table.

"Well, Harry, do you mind if I call you Harry?" Harry shook his head. Melchior opened the notebook. "It really started when I saw all those articles written about you. I had to admit that they were quite worrying."

"But the _Daily Prophet_ 's been lying about Harry all the time," Sirius said while Harry shifted nervously in his seat.

"I know that," Melchior said. "Don't think I took articles such as _"Ten Similarities Between Harry Potter and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"_ seriously. I'm not mad. No, it's not the sensationalized press that brought me to the decision to take you here. Still though, the death of a Professor at Hogwarts under such suspicious circumstances was worrying.

Obviously I had no way of knowing the absolute truth from all the way out here, so I decided to just wait and see how it would all develop." He leafed through the pages, and Harry saw the past years of his life flash by. "But it just kept on getting stranger. The Philosopher's Stone, Dumbledore going massively out of his way to protect you, attacks at Hogwarts, and ultimately that altercation in the Chamber of Secrets." Now it was Ginny's turn to shift nervously. "And then you escape from Azkaban, Mr Black. And that was when I sent Selene and ordered her to follow you around, find out a bit more about you."

"Why?" Ginny asked. Melchior turned towards her. She seemed uncomfortable with his scrutiny. "Why are you so interested in Harry?"

"Also a good question, Ginevra." Ginny looked ready to say something about him using her full name, but kept silent. "In the first place I wanted to prevent another Dark Lord from rising. Patience, Mr Black," he added as Sirius opened his mouth again. "And I was about to order Selene to drag you out of Hogwarts when we discovered you were in contact with Sirius Black."

"So why didn't you?" Harry asked.

"I had patience," Melchior said. "That's an important virtue that they teach you in Slytherin, isn't it Harry? I simply waited a bit longer, especially as you seemed quite keen on convincing your friend here that Black was actually innocent. I was intrigued, and when Selene heard the other version of what really happened twelve years ago, I had to admit that it sounded quite convincing. So I waited a bit longer, because I really wanted to find out just why everything seems to be happening around you, Harry. Unfortunately, time was cut short when you three were spotted together in that cave by Hogsmeade by a group of quite conveniently stationed Aurors. It was lucky that Selene managed to catch you just in time in Paris, because you three don't stand a chance on your own against the Ministry. Dumbledore was hot on your trail as well." He took another sip of his coffee. "I would have been happy to let you three get caught by the Ministry too, if it weren't for Selene overhearing something very alarming while listening in to your conversations."

"What's that?" Sirius asked.

"That Voldemort is still alive, of course. And it fits, too. Who else would go through so much trouble to try and obtain the Philosopher's Stone? Who else would be behind all those attacks last year? Why else would Harry Potter, the very same person who seemingly vanquished him twelve years ago be at the centre of all the happenings? Why does Dumbledore do everything to keep that same person as far away from the Ministry as possible? It's all connected, I tell you, and Voldemort and Harry are the centre of it all." He paused to take a deep breath. "Does that answer your question?"

"I think so," Sirius said shakily.

"You've listened in to every single conversation I had?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Sorry," Selene said. "But it did save you from getting caught by the Ministry in the end." That didn't comfort Harry in the slightest, and Ginny looked more troubled.

"But I still don't know what your interest is in this," Sirius said to Melchior. "You're not from Britain, although your accent suggests otherwise, and you live in the middle of nowhere. What's your part in all this?"

"Ah, yes," Melchior said. He sat up straighter. "Me. My part in this is quite complicated, and it's a very long story that will take a very long time for me to tell. Would you like to hear it?"

"I think so," Sirius replied.

"Alright then, but not now. It's getting late, and I'm sure you're all starving. Now, are you going to refuse my food as well?" He asked that in a way that made Harry feel guilty of refusing his offer for a drink before. He exchanged a glance with his two companions.

"I'm quite hungry," Ginny admitted.

"Me too," Harry said. Sirius shrugged.

"Good," Melchior said. He placed both hands on the table and rose slowly, grimacing as he did so. "You three can settle in while I cook. Bedrooms are upstairs."

"Come on," Selene said as Melchior walked out of the room again. "Let's get you settled in." She led the three of them up the small stairs, and they found themselves in a dark, narrow corridor, the only source of light being Selene's wand tip. There were four doors in the wall to the right of them. The small windows on the other wall only showed that it was still dark outside.

"Right, the nearest door is where you and I sleep, Ginny," Selene said. She opened the door nearest to them and the four entered a spacious bedroom. It had two beds on the opposite sides and there were posters covering every inch of the wall. Bearing in mind how small the house looked on the outside, Harry didn't expect the room to be quite this big.

"It's magically enlarged," Selene explained. "The left bed is yours, Ginny."

Ginny, however, was staring at one of the posters in the room in distaste. There were five men on it, and Harry found that they looked just like a normal muggle band, with the band members showing an electric guitar, bass guitar, a keyboard, a microphone and drumsticks. What hinted Harry to them being wizards, though, was that they all had snakes instead of normal hair.

"Don't like The Gorgons? Oh, don't tell me, you're a Weird Sisters fan, aren't you?" Selene drawled, having noticed Ginny's displeasure.

"Oh no," Ginny said hastily, schooling her features. "No, it's fine, don't worry about."

Selene sighed. "Look, I'm honestly not going to hurt you. I don't even know what your problem is with us. We saved you from the Ministry, for god's sake!"

"You abducted us," Sirius said slowly.

Selene stared at him in confusion for a moment, then sighed. "Let's first get everyone settled in first, alright? Harry, Sirius, you sleep in the room next to this one. The beds are already made, so you can just drop your bags there."

She led them into the next room. It was similar to Selene's room, minus the posters, with two beds on opposite sides and a simple wooden closet at the far end, opposite of the doorway. Harry and Sirius deposited their backpacks in the room. Harry had bought them for him and Sirius last summer, when he and Sirius stayed at the Leaky Cauldron. It had been nerve-wracking, staying at Diagon Alley with a convicted criminal who was disguised as a dog all day, but they weren't caught. Not during the summer, anyway.

"Next door is the bathroom," Selene said then. She opened the next door and showed them a modestly sized bathroom with a shower, a toilet and a sink with a mirror above it. "Sirius, Melchior knows a lot of charms that will help your body restore from your time in prison. You might want to ask him about that as soon as possible, he'll be glad to help you."

Sirius looked in the mirror and ran his hand through his wild, knotted hair. "That would be kind," he said.

"Right, you've seen the bathroom," she led them out of the room and into the corridor again. "And that last door over there is Melchior's room. You don't have to see that. So, seen everything? Let's go downstairs again."

As they followed the girl through the corridor and downstairs again, Ginny prodded Harry in the side.

"What?"

"You were staring at her bum," she whispered. "I thought you were interested in-"

"No I wasn't staring at her bum!" Harry hissed back.

"Yes you were!"

"So how old were you again, Selene?" Sirius asked from behind them.

"Nineteen, why?"

"Just curious."

"Oh."

They entered the living room and found the table already set and Melchior waiting.

"Everything set upstairs?" He asked. Selene nodded. "Alright, sit down everyone."

The meal turned out to be simple, but quite alright, consisting of chewy meatballs and potatoes.

"So, Mr. Black, you said you wanted to know my part in 'this'. Could you specify that question?" Melchior asked between bites.

"I mean everything," Sirius said, waving his fork around. "Voldemort, everything that's happened to Harry and Ginny here, how the Wizarding World has been treating my godson… For all I know you're just a man living in a shack out in the wilderness, yet you still have this pretty little witch here rescuing us from Aurors in Paris and then hauling us off to here. It's all so confusing!"

Melchior put down his fork and chewed thoughtfully while scratching his beard. "First of all, Selene here is… let's say my adopted daughter. You've seen how capable she is on that train, and I can honestly find no person better suited to have helped you back there. Secondly, I used to live in Britain. Lived in quite a lot of places, actually, but I attended Hogwarts and I was in Britain during the last war. Does that answer your question?"

"It's a start," Sirius said.

"It is, and I'll tell you more, don't worry. All your questions will be answered in time. Harry, would you like some more meat?" He asked.

Harry looked up from his plate. "Yes, please," he said. He held up his plate and Melchior slid another meatball on it.

"I was born in Rotterdam, actually," he said, setting down the heavy pan and picking up his fork again. "My parents, they were both Muggles, by the way, lived there at the time as bakers. My father grew up on a farm, my mother had always lived in the city. They moved to Rotterdam, thinking the economy was going to get better after the Great Depression, but that wasn't going to be the case, of course.

First there was a harsh winter that blew through the little reserves that the city had, and then there was the threat of war. Everyone kept saying the Netherlands would remain neutral, just like they did during the war before that, but still, on the tenth of May, the invasion began. It only took four days for the Germans to break through the city's defence along the Meuse in the end.

My parents were lucky they had family further north in the city. They fled right after the first bombs dropped. My mother was heavily pregnant with me at the time as well. They were lucky. The bombs destroyed half the city, and if that wasn't enough, after that came a fire to destroy what the bombs couldn't. My parents told me there wasn't a single brick left of their old house.

I was born on the sixteenth of May, just one day after the capitulation, and I'm told I was one of the first people to have been born in the occupied Netherlands.

I don't remember much of the years I spent there, I'll be honest. I know it was a hard time and that my mother's sister died of starvation one winter, but not much more. My parents talked very little about it, you see.

Eventually, after the war ended, and I was five at the time, my parents had enough, and we moved to England. My father grew up on a farm in the East of the Netherlands and he wanted that life back. So they bought an empty farm near Norwich, I believe the owner was killed in the war, and they intended to build a new life there. That was all in 1945, I'll remind you. Only after everything was booked, paid for and signed did it become clear that Britain was just as broken and in shambles as where we came from. We did stay there in the end, but my parents were never the same after all that." He grimaced before taking a sip of water. "You should have heard my mother before I went to Hogwarts. She tried everything to convince me to stay close to home, to not leave them behind."

"My Mum's the same," Ginny said. It was the first time she spoke during dinner. "I thought she wouldn't let me go back this year. Dad convinced her in the end…" She trailed off. "But I guess you already know that."

"Yes, we do," Melchior said, not in the sounding a bit guilty. "I do understand her point, and she'll certainly feel that she should have kept you home after all. In her eyes, her only daughter was kidnapped by Harry Potter and Sirius Black. Only the thought of that should make any mother shudder in fear. And if that isn't enough, Molly Weasley lost both her brothers during the War, and if what I heard was correct, she found their mangled bodies herself. It certainly would explain her overprotective tendencies." Ginny shoulders slumped and she hung her head. Harry felt a surge of anger at Melchior.

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty," the man calmly said to Ginny, but he glanced at Harry as he said it. "I'm merely trying to show you her point of view."

"How do you know about the Prewitts?" Sirius asked sharply.

"About the same way I know so much about you three," Melchior said. "Gathering knowledge was important in the War, and if that meant spying on the Order, then so be it."

Sirius stared at the man in barely controlled anger. "I don't trust you," he said, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"I'm your only hope of surviving," Melchior countered.

Sirius snorted. "Right. In case you didn't notice, I've managed to avoid the Ministry for half a year after escaping from Azkaban. I can take care of myself."

"I can see that," Melchior said, looking at Sirius' wild, wasted state. "But that was different. You were on your own and you can transform into a dog. But you didn't have Harry and Ginny here to take care of then, and now that you have, it changes things. Be honest with yourself. You wouldn't last a month without help. Not in this weather. And seeing as you three are wanted by the Ministry, I'm the only help you've got."

Sirius glanced out of the window, then hung his head. In the silence that followed, Selene started waving her wand around and the dishes started stacking themselves up.

"That still doesn't mean I trust you," Sirius said eventually.

"Fair enough," Melchior said, "but you still have my promise that I will not harm any of you. Harry, Ginny, do you want some more?" He asked.

"No thanks, I'm stuffed," Ginny said. Harry declined as well.

"Good. Not such a big eater, Mr Black?" Sirius, still unhappy, looked up from his half-empty plate. It immediately flew onto the pile of plates in the middle of the table.

"I'm not used to food," he said.

"We'll change that. Don't worry. Now there's the matter of what to do the coming time."

"How long are we going to stay here?" Sirius asked.

"As long as is necessary. You three need to remain hidden for now, and my house here is the best option you have right now." Sirius still didn't look too happy, but he kept any objections to himself. "Harry, Ginny, you two might have officially been expelled this morning, but you will still need your education, and I can provide that. Yes, really," he said sternly when Harry and Ginny groaned. "You two are in danger and you need to know how to protect yourselves. I would normally say we start tomorrow morning already, but Selene told me your fight with those Aurors in Paris was quite taxing. Harry, you had a broken arm, right?" Harry nodded, instinctively reaching for his left arm. "Does it still hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. Selene fixed it."

"Alright. Ginny, your arm was cut badly?"

"Yes."

"May I see it?"

Ginny shrugged and rolled up her sleeve. Harry could still see a faint red stripe of where the cut used to be.

"Well done, Selene," Melchior said after a moment. "Ideally the scar would be invisible too, but you're improving." Selene beamed. "And Sirius…"

"Just my pride that's wounded," Sirius said, glaring at the girl, who looked a bit shamefaced.

"Perfect. We'll start training the day after tomorrow, then."

"Alright then. Kids, it's time for bed," Sirius said. He sounded much happier than not two minutes ago.

"Did you really say that?" Harry asked a smug looking Sirius.

"Yes, I did. I've been waiting for quite a while to say that, too. _"Kids, it's time for bed."_ Ha! Now do as I'm told, and don't make me repeat myself! I can finally play Godfather now, and I intend to make full use of it!"

Harry exchanged a look with Ginny. He would normally protest, but he really was tired from all the hectic the past few days. He and Ginny bid the others goodnight and got up from the table.

"Firewhiskey before we sleep, Mr Black?" Harry heard Melchior ask as he and Ginny went up the stairs.

"You have firewhiskey?" Sirius replied eagerly.

"Well, you've got to drink _something_ out here, don't you?"

Harry shook his head and went up the last few steps.

"'Night, Ginny," he said to his friend.

"'Night, Harry." They faced each other for a moment on the top flight of the stairs, neither saying anything. Harry would have loved to talk about everything that had happened the last days, but he could barely keep his eyes open as it was. Instead, he briefly smiled at her and went into his room.

"Bloody Gorgons," he heard Ginny mutter in the next room.


	3. Chapter 3: Mr M Miyagi

If Harry were to describe the next day, he would say it was normal as ever, if a bit strange because the sun never even came up. Never mind the fact that they were somewhere among the mountains of Norway and under the roof with the two people that essentially kidnapped them just yesterday.

They had a normal breakfast of toast and eggs before spending the morning taking stock of what Harry, Ginny and Sirius had brought with them and assessing the situation in Magical Britain.

Sirius at least had a wand now, which he'd bought at _Rue de Mentaire_ , Paris' magical shopping centre. They all had a decent amount of clothes too, but the articles that Ginny had enthusiastically picked out for herself and Harry weren't quite suited for the harsh and cold climate that reigned here. Melchior promised them he would set that right for them as soon as possible.

They expected so yesterday, but that day's paper, which appeared out of thin air in an inbox in the living room at precisely 8:00 in the morning, confirmed that Harry and Ginny were officially expelled from Hogwarts for leaving the grounds without permission and assaulting a teacher.

What the paper didn't know was that Remus Lupin had fully supported Harry's decision to visit Sirius in his nearby cave once most of the student had left the castle for the holidays, and was quite eager to escort him and Ginny there personally. They hadn't counted on being caught, however.

It had taken Harry a couple of months of careful probing and dropping Sirius' name here and there before Professor Lupin started believing that his old friend was actually innocent. He could have left the man in the dark about Sirius staying in a cave near Hogwarts, but he was another connection to Harry's parents, and there weren't a lot of those. Sirius all but insisted on getting his old friend back, too.

"Looks like Remus did it. They all believe he's innocent and that we tried to kidnap him," Sirius commented. "Quite how he convinced them, I don't know, but I did tell you he's still a marauder!"

"Yeah, I think you injuring him really helped. That really was a good idea, Harry," Selene said. Harry smiled at her, but, sitting comfortably next to Ginny on the couch in front of the fire, he still felt uneasy.

It had been a combination of luck and the planning of Sirius that allowed them to escape the cave near Hogsmeade that Sirius used as a hideout. Last summer, during Harry's and Sirius' stay at Diagon Alley, Sirius had gone to Gringotts one night, and came back with enough gold to last a few years and a Portkey to his old family home in London, Grimmauld Place 12.

That very same Portkey was their exit when Aurors discovered the cave. Harry didn't know how they found them, but what troubled him more was that just before they escaped, Harry came up with the idea to injure Professor Lupin in order to make it seem that he was taken by force, and not out of free will. He vividly remembered the revolting, strangely exhilarating feeling that coursed through him when he sent a cutting curse towards his professor. He didn't mention any of that to the others.

Strangely, while Harry was outcast for attacking a professor, being Sirius' 'accomplice' and opening the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny was seen as kidnapped by Harry and Sirius. Unlike Harry, she wasn't accused for injuring Professor Lupin, and she also had a family that could fight for her. That became especially clear on page three, where they read an emotional statement of her parents, Molly and Arthur Weasley, the former telling her interviewer that Ginny would never align herself with _"those miserable excuses for human beings"_. Though she tried to hide it, Harry still saw Ginny's eyes glistening when she read the interview, and at that moment he felt very, very guilty for pulling Ginny along in this mess.

She didn't have to come with him and Professor Lupin to Sirius' cave. It was just supposed to be a quick visit. But then they got spotted by Aurors, and now they were here, hundreds and hundreds of miles away from Hogwarts.

Also interesting were the consequences of the fight they had with the Aurors on the train in Paris. Apparently, the fact that British Aurors had breached the Statute of Secrecy in France, along with carrying out a mission on foreign soil, had angered the French Ministry for Magic quite a lot, and Fudge had to hold an emergency meeting with Charles XI, the King of Wizarding France to try and mend bridges. Judging by the angry statement of him in the newspaper, including a threat to close the French border to all Britons, he hadn't succeeded.

"Can they do that?" Harry asked. "Close the border to all Britons?"

"Oh, yes they can," Melchior answered. "Borders are more than just arbitrary lines, and the Ministry has full control over them. If they wanted to, they could close their country off completely, effectively quarantining it. And that's quite a common procedure too throughout the past. Look at the war against Voldemort for example: it started with a couple of incidents involving rowdy Death Eaters seeking some 'fun' in France. They broke the Statue of Secrecy there and committed a whole list of crimes against the civilians there. I'll spare you the details on that.

This all happened in France, and the repercussions were huge. Relations were always a bit strained between Britain and France, and this was just adding heat to the fire. The same king you just read about, Charles IX, was furious. The very same day of the incident with the Death Eaters he locked the country for all Britons, and he urged the rest of the world to do the same. Most important of all, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway complied, and that cast a sort of iron curtain along the coast of Europe, meaning everyone was completely trapped here. It was quite a mess. After Voldemort disappeared the restrictions eased up a bit, but it's still there for most part. Just look at Norway, for example: you need a written permission from the Norse Ministry for Magic to enter, and seeing as they're just as bureaucratic here as they are in Britain, that will take quite some time."

"It does reinforce the safety of this place," Selene piped up from her sofa. "After the last war against Voldemort, Norway is still a bit put-out with Britain for not handling the situation better before it got so out of control-"

"And they're damn right about that," Melchior interrupted heatedly.

"So they're not going to allow British Aurors to search their country."

"So how exactly did we get here, then?" Ginny asked.

"I'll explain that later. It's quite interesting, actually," Melchior said.

Dumbledore had also made a public statement, and he told the press that he was very disappointed in Harry, but seemed a bit more reluctant to condemn Ginny as well.

"He's very careful with his words, isn't he?" Selene noted. "Is it because Ginny is a pureblood?"

"Hah!" Sirius let out a barking laugh. "You're reading the Daily Prophet, darling. It's the evil Sirius Black and Harry Potter who kidnapped poor little Pureblood witch Ginny Weasley. All they need to do is a little nitpicking here and there, and the narrative is complete."

A moment of silence.

"So, it looks like we have a very long list of problems," Melchior said then. He leaned back in his sofa and folded his hands. "First of all, the Ministry will be looking everywhere they can for you three. For now that doesn't include Norway, but that won't last forever. Remaining here for the rest of your lives is therefore not an option. I don't think you would want to anyway, am I right?" Harry, Ginny and Sirius all shook their head. "I thought as much. Well, that means that you need to be prepared. This isn't going to end overnight. I have seen the British Ministry in action for a very long time, and frankly, there's a good chance that they will never right this injustice at all." He nodded grimly at Harry, understanding that the full consequences of their actions were starting to dawn on him.

"So… We'll…"

"Be fugitives for the rest of your lives? Don't count it out. You can't just turn yourselves in, because they'll arrest you and throw you in Azkaban before you can even say _"I'm innocent"_. Sirius here can attest to that." Harry glanced at Sirius, who smiled wryly.

"But I'm only expelled," Ginny said, "I'm not wanted. I could go home if I wanted to, right?"

"Of course you could," Melchior answered. "And as soon as you get there, you will be taken to the Ministry by Aurors, who will then pump you so full of Veritaserum you risk permanent brain damage until you confess that you did in fact help Sirius and Harry here, along with where they are exactly. And I think they'll be very curious about what happened last school year too. I don't see them taking _that_ well."

"That wasn't her fault!" Harry said heatedly. "That was Voldemort, not Ginny!"

"Do you think they'll care?" Melchior countered. "Aside from the fact that they all think that Voldemort died in 1981, which makes your story very improbable to them, Ginny was still there in person. I know the people who work there, Harry, and I can guarantee you that they'll just use it to condemn her even further. A long time in Azkaban is the least you two can expect. Sirius won't even come that far, he'll just get his soul sucked out the moment they find him."

There was a silence after that. Harry listened to the occasional crack and pop from the fireplace with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"I think I'm going to use the loo," Ginny said after a while. The overly casual way she said that didn't go unnoticed by Harry. Nobody said a word as she stood up from beside Harry and darted up the stairs. Harry took a sip of tea just to have something to do with his hands.

"So, training," Sirius said, breaking the silence. "I don't know what you can teach, but Harry and Ginny are going to need all the education they can get. I'm a bit rusty as well."

"Everything you need. Aside from the normal duelling training, I think the first and foremost goal is to teach you how to avoid a duel entirely. The less you three are seen, the better."

"Sounds good," Sirius agreed.

"But what about the trace?" Harry asked. "Won't the Ministry notice Ginny and me doing spells?"

Melchior seemed to consider this for a moment. "They shouldn't. We're in another country, a very isolationist one, I might add. Then there's the mountains and canyons. It's already hard to pinpoint underage magic in a flat and level area like southern England, let alone a mountainous area like this. And lastly, I put a lot of protections around the house. It won't even show on the map. We'll be fine, as long as you stay here."

* * *

Melchior surprised his three guests the next day when, during the dark, cold and windy morning, just after breakfast, he pulled out a large, stone bowl that was covered in decorative drawings and runes, and placed it on the table with a loud _thud_.

"Alright, anyone know what this is?" He asked.

"Is that a Pensieve?" Sirius asked, astonished.

"Yes. Bloody expensive, too, so I thought we'd best make good use of it."

"What's a Pensieve?" Ginny asked.

"A Pensieve is a container of sorts. For thoughts. Here, look: you concentrate on whatever thought you want to store, then you place your wand at your temple, like this, and then you pull it out," he slowly took his wand away from his head, and attached to the tip was a white, wispy substance, "like… this… And then you put it in the Pensieve." He tipped the thought into the strange bowl. Harry, Ginny and Sirius' faces were briefly visible before disappearing again.

"Why would you do that?" Harry asked.

"For a lot of reasons. Maybe you've got too much on your head and you just want to empty it. Maybe you want to look at your problems from a distance without your own bias clouding your judgement. It can be used in court as well. But for today, I want you to look at your fight in Paris again. I want you to see how you did in battle, and what you can improve. I used it a lot when training Selene, and it's a good way of learning from your mistakes."

It did sound like a good idea. He glanced at Ginny and Sirius. They didn't look too troubled by it.

"Alright," Sirius said. After a few tries he was able to successfully pull out his memory of the battle and place it in the Pensieve. "Now what?" He asked, staring at the swirling liquid in fascination.

"Now we dive in," Melchior answered. "Just put your face in it." Sirius leaned over. The moment his face touched the contents of the bowl, he froze completely.

"That's normal," Melchior said before Harry could speak. "His mind is now playing out the memory. Harry, you're next." Harry gave him a dubious look, but still bent down and came in contact with the liquid.

It wasn't like anything he expected. The moment he made contact, the floor under his feet disappeared. The chair he was previously sitting on disappeared. The whole house disappeared into a void of colours, shades and ripples as he fell down. Then, without warning, it was over. His feet touched the ground and he saw Sirius next to him. Ginny, Melchior and Selene were there too moments later.

"That was very strange," Ginny said. She looked just as dazed as Harry felt. That was when Harry became aware of where they were. He looked around, and saw a lit street filled with people, the air full of snowflakes and sounds of a busy city: cars, people talking, footsteps, a siren in the distance, and trains. He looked ahead again and saw a large building. On the front were golden letters that spelled _"GARE DU NORD"_. Then he saw Sirius, slightly less recognisable because of his glamour charms, hurriedly enter the train station. There was no doubt that the past versions Harry and Ginny were right behind him, hidden under the invisibility cloak. The feeling of déjà vu was strange, but what was even stranger was that no one batted an eye to the five people that just appeared out of nowhere.

"They're part of the memory; you're not," Melchior explained. "Come on, we don't want to be late."

Enthralled, he followed the hunched man across the street and into the massive, crowded hall. Harry was surprised at how little he remembered of it. Of course, he had a lot more important things on his mind at the time, like fleeing from Aurors for example, but he nonetheless wondered how he could not have noticed the sheer size of the station.

Harry tried not to run into anybody, yet still keep up with Melchior. Ginny was struggling too, but Sirius, Selene and Melchior seemed to walk straight through the crowd without a care in the world.

"Don't worry, you can't influence anything," Selene said, who had slowed down for them. As if to prove her point, she held out her arm. A broad man in a suit, who was clutching a few colourfully wrapped presents, hurriedly walked straight through it. Even Ginny, who grew up in a magical household, looked amazed. "Come on, you're just entering the train."

Harry looked ahead, and indeed, a disguised Sirius looked around worriedly and then entered the train that was supposed to take them to Germany.

It hadn't been a conscious decision at the time. Get as far away from Britain as possible, that was what they all agreed to do back in Grimmauld Place. They would have stayed there, had Professor Lupin not come with the warning that Dumbledore and the Ministry were both planning to breach the protections of the Black home as soon as possible.

Ginny pulled his sleeve and shook him out of his thoughts. She pulled him into the train just in time to see past Sirius opening the door and entering the car they were in on the far end, whispering something behind him and marching through the mass of people. Harry saw that Melchior wasn't looking at that, but seemed to be staring intently at something else. Harry followed his gaze and felt a stab of fear, even though it was just a memory.

There, walking through the door Sirius just came from, was a group of red-robed Aurors, soldiering through the considerably busy car with a determined air. The exit doors then closed, the train let out some excess pressure with a sigh, and then rolled into motion. Harry followed the others into the next railcar. The only difference between past and present Sirius were his clothes, and that, in combination with the many noises, made it a confusing experience. Harry ignored the nervous glances the bystanders were sending Sirius' way. The door opened at the other end, and the group of Aurors entered, now walking in a faster tempo.

Harry was almost at the other end the car when a spell impacted the wall to his left, shattering it and exposing the electronics and pipes underneath. The feeling of déjà vu became even stronger when he looked behind him and saw that the Aurors had given up trying to keep themselves to the Statue of Secrecy and had pulled their wands. People around them now knew that something was terribly wrong here, and started screaming and ducking behind their seats, scrambling for cover.

Harry and the others went through the door into the next car, and the screaming became a bit more distant when it closed behind them. The people in the next car were restless as well, obviously having heard the disturbance. Past Sirius was now in a heated debate with the still invisible Harry and Ginny. Harry remembered that he was now explaining to them that they couldn't flee anymore: they would still keep their momentum while apparating, and the train was picking up speed mercilessly. They had nowhere to go either. The D for "destination" was the culprit of that, Sirius had explained. While they were in France, they wouldn't be able to pass the borders through magical means. And there was nowhere in France they would be able to Apparate to, because they'd never been anywhere outside of Paris, so any clear picture of an Auror-free destination was out of the question. They were trapped. They were now at the outskirts of Paris, and the surroundings were little more than a blur in the cold winter night.

"Halt!" He heard an Auror shout behind him. They had to run to keep up with past Sirius. Some bystanders rose to their feet. Another spell was shot at them, this time breaking a window to Harry's right. The wind howled, some stray snowflakes flew in, and people were screaming and clambering to the safest place they could find; the floor under the benches, mostly. Harry disregarded them.

They entered the next car just as the door behind them was blown to splinters with a loud _bang_ , and the six Aurors that chased past Sirius entered. Harry and the others stood right between the Aurors and the people who were desperately fleeing to the other side of the car. They quickly managed to exit through the door, leaving the Aurors and past Sirius the only visible people left.

"Alright, now, I want you to concentrate on what the Aurors will be doing," Melchior said, and with that he reminded Harry that they weren't actually there.

"Give it up, Black, it's six to one," one of the Aurors said. Harry could hear the nervousness in his voice.

"And have me Kissed by a Dementor the moment you bring me in? I don't think so, Dawlish!" Harry was once again reminded that Sirius knew a lot of Aurors, having been one himself. That was before he was thrown in Azkaban, though.

"Where are the kids, Black? Hand them over, we don't want to hurt them," another Auror said. Her pink hair was quite noticeable. The answer to her question came moments later, when two disembodied voices shouted _"stupefy!"_ and two red beams of light raced towards the Aurors.

They reacted instantly. Harry noticed their efficiency, as well as how they relied on each other. One of them raised a shield and two others fired a stunning spell towards where the first spells came from. Three others concentrated on Sirius, who immediately took cover behind one of the chairs. Harry and Ginny appeared from under the cloak then, ducked behind a bench.

Melchior calmly shuffled further away from the fight and sat down. Selene followed soon after, leaving present Harry, Ginny and Sirius standing in the walkway. After the first few spells, Harry managed to ignore the instinct to dive for cover, and settled for observing the Aurors as spells of many different colours passed through him harmlessly.

The last time he experienced this fight, he was ducking behind a chair half the time and solely focusing on cursing his enemies when he got up from cover. Therefore he hadn't seen when exactly Selene entered the fight. Now, though, standing in the thick of things without getting hurt, he had a clear view of the young woman stunning two Aurors from behind them before taking cover behind the shattered door opening. If anything, the Aurors were quick to react. The woman with pink hair shouted something to her three remaining companions and they adjusted formation: two engaging Sirius, Harry, and Ginny and the two others Selene.

But it was too late for them at this point. Sirius magically ripped a luggage rack from its hinges and banished it towards the Aurors, who had to duck as the plank impacted with the bench they were hiding behind. The bench broke in half and one Auror was trapped under the rubble while the other had no choice but to come out into the walkway. He was able to block the spell that Ginny sent him, but not Harry's, and the impact of the spell sent him flying through the door opening. Harry saw him land in the walkway of the next car.

Harry looked around, because he remembered what happened next quite vividly. Feeling emboldened by his success and thinking all the Aurors were dealt with, he'd simply stood up from behind his chair. But that proved to be a costly mistake as he was immediately hit by a curse that sent him flying. Harry winced as he saw his past self impact the plastic covers at the far end of the car, mere inches from the much more solid fire extinguisher that hung there.

At that same time, Sirius and Selene managed to overpower the last two remaining Aurors.

Sirius, who hadn't known who she was at that moment, immediately tried to curse Selene too. She ducked and rolled from under the spell and cast a full body-bind on her opponent, but Sirius blocked that. She dodged Ginny's spell and sent a pair of black, leathery ropes towards her, incapacitating her. She blocked Sirius' stunner, Sirius brought up his wand and was already making the motions of a spell when Selene cried _"impedimenta!"_

Sirius froze, with his wand still pointing straight at her.

Selene was busy binding him in ropes when Harry crawled into the walkway at the end of the destroyed railcar. He sent a spell at her, but, blinded by pain and without his glasses, he missed. Selene kicked Sirius in the crotch, hard, pushed him to the floor and stunned Harry.

"And there we go," Melchior said from his chair. Everything around them faded to black and they all re-appeared in Melchior's living room again. Harry sat down and released a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"That was intense," Ginny remarked.

"Yes, the Pensieve can be rather lifelike," Melchior agreed. "Anyway, to cut to the chase, what did you notice about the Aurors?"

"They worked as a team." Harry said hesitantly.

"Good point, Harry. They're a team. They know exactly what each of them is capable of, and they've been trained very extensively on how to best function as a cohesive group. Ginny, what are your suggestions?"

"Don't come up from behind cover when you think it's over?" She winked at Harry.

"Exactly. Firstly, you never know what your enemy might do, so don't expect them to just act like you would. Secondly, it's a well-known trick to simply play dead to catch your foe unaware. It's cowardly, but it does work. You need to be prepared for that. I don't think I need to remind you how reckless your action was, right Harry?" Harry shook his head. "Good lad. Next suggestion?"

"They were much stronger than Ginny and me," Harry said. "One shield blocked both of our spells."

"Correct! Power does come with age, I'm afraid, so you two are at a bit of a disadvantage with that. But there are many other ways to take down your enemy without straight up duelling him, so it won't always be a problem. We'll cover that later. More suggestions?"

They spent the rest of the afternoon analysing the fight, writing down every important bit, including the mistakes Harry, Ginny, Sirius, and also Selene made. Melchior promised to work on those with them all.

* * *

"I think we'd better start with the most pressing thing: making yourself invisible," Melchior said the next day. He stood in front of a seated Harry and Ginny. To make room, the dining table was now the size of a thimble and in Melchior's pocket. Sirius and Selene were outside. Sirius wanted to explore the surroundings as Padfoot, and Selene went with him so that he wouldn't get lost. "I understand you have an Invisibility Cloak?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"Yes sir," Melchior reminded him. If anything, the man conformed to strict rules and habits. That apparently included calling him 'sir' when he was teaching.

"Yes sir."

"May I see it?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said. He ran upstairs and fished the Cloak out of his bag. Once he was downstairs again, he handed the only thing he had with him that reminded him of his father, and sat down next to Ginny again.

"Astonishing," Melchior breathed. "And this was your father's?"

"Yes."

"Yes sir."

"Sorry."

"Incredible. Did you know that normal Invisibility Cloaks lose their charm after a year or two? This one should have stopped working ages ago, if what you tell me is the truth and it is indeed that old."

"It is; Dumbledore told me." Melchior nodded slowly and handed the garment back to Harry.

"Do you mind if I study it sometime later? This is a truly fascinating thing you have."

"Alright," Harry said. "Sir."

"Thank you. Now, as good as that cloak of yours is, it will still hinder you when moving about."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said emphatically. "Me and Ginny once tripped over it while we were walking upstairs back at Hogwarts."

"That's because you suddenly decided to turn left, Harry," Ginny argued. "Nothing would have happened if you would have just behaved like a normal person."

"Yeah, but you…"

"Kids," Melchior interrupted. Harry and Ginny stopped their debate. "This is what I meant. It hinders you. Now, an Invisibility Cloak isn't the only way to be invisible. Do either of you know of another?"

"Disillusionment charms?" Ginny asked. "Sir?"

"Correct. They're not quite one hundred percent effective, as they still leave a slight ripple, but they're still right useful. For one, you don't have to stay under one cloak together, and also there's no cloth to trip over while walking, or running from your enemy for that matter. Stand up, please." Harry and Ginny complied. "We're going to practice now. The incantation is _"Es Perlucidi"_."

 _"Es Perlucidi,"_ Harry and Ginny chanted.

"Yes, good, but the emphasis is on the _'u'_. Again."

 _"Es Perlucidi."_

"Very good! Now I want you to stand up, face each other and try the spell on the other person. You do so by saying the spell and tapping your wand firmly on the head. Go on, give it a whack!"

Their classes followed the same order every day: a short introduction, practicing a new spell, and then a whole list ways to use the spell. Melchior taught with a contagious passion, and while they certainly didn't complete their schoolwork without complaining, Harry still felt more optimistic, somehow invigorated after they were done. If anything, everything that had happened to him before helped him come to an important conclusion: he needed to learn to defend himself. Badly.


	4. Chapter 4: Daphne

The first day of their lessons was tiring, in part because of the everlasting night, but although he was exhausted when he crawled into bed that evening, Harry couldn't fall asleep. First his feet were too cold. Then he pulled on socks to warm them up, but that made his feet too warm again. During all that tossing around he started thinking.

From the moment they arrived here, he'd barely had any time for himself. The lessons today had taken a long time, and with the house being so small, he was almost always in the company of other people. But now, staring at the ceiling, listening to Sirius and Melchior laughing and drinking below and Ginny occasionally bumping into the wall that separated them, his thoughts finally had free reign.

Before they had to run away, Harry would have given everything to leave Hogwarts. There were very little people who liked him and he was constantly talked about, sometimes behind his back, often right in his face. His classmates ridiculed him, whispered about him behind his back, the papers wrote a lot about him, and the past few months he experienced an ever-present fear of getting arrested.

It hadn't been a secret that the Ministry was curious about what happened to and around Harry: Quirrell's death, the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, the petrifying of all those students, and of course the escape of Sirius Black. And if he got arrested, who knew what he would be forced to say? Dumbledore had told him about Veritaserum, and what its effects were. What would everyone say if he talked about meeting Sirius from time to time? About Voldemort being very much alive? He and Dumbledore agreed after one of their conversations in the Headmaster's office that it was for the best if Harry was never taken to the Ministry for questioning.

Now that he was away from that fear, loneliness and grief, he thought he would be happy at last. But that wasn't the case.

That was when Sirius came into the room. Harry had no doubt he'd been drinking quite a lot, like he did the night before as well, so he was surprised his godfather was aware enough to notice that Harry was awake.

"Hello," he breathed. He lit up his wand and Harry could see his red, smiling face. "Couldn't sleep?"

"No."

"What's up?"

"Dunno."

"Missing Daphne?"

Sirius may be very immature, but he did seem to know precisely what bothered Harry.

"Yeah." Both were silent for a while, and Sirius started changing for bed. Harry swallowed.

"I kissed her," he said. Sirius, who had his pyjamas in his hand, froze. "I didn't get to tell you yet, but I did." A smirk slowly appeared on Sirius' face, and Harry couldn't help but grin back at him.

"Come on, scoot," Sirius commanded. He threw his pyjamas on his bed and sat down beside Harry.

"Now, my boy, spill: when, where, how?"

"Erm," he actually giggled as he tried to stop blushing, "well, um… It was the last night before she went away for the Holidays, actually…"

* * *

 _"Harry? Is that you?" Daphne asked. Harry opened his mouth a few times to respond, but he was too busy watching her to actually think. She was standing in the middle of the deserted corridor where they had arranged to meet for a date. Harry still marvelled at the very idea._

 _It was late at night and she would be leaving tomorrow along with most of the other students, but that didn't matter now. All he could think about was the way the moonlight seeping in through the windows made her dark brown hair shine and her almond brown eyes twinkle. He examined her from top to toe with his heart beating wildly in his chest, watching her cute small nose, her pale skin, and the way her pyjamas hung around her body. She was just 14, but she was definitely developing. The thick cloak she had draped around her made her even more beautiful._

 _"Yeah, it's me," he said eventually, and he threw off his Invisibility Cloak. Daphne jumped and clutched her heart._

 _"Gods, Harry, scare a girl to death, will you?"_

 _"Sorry." He grinned at her. She smiled in response, her fear seemingly gone. "Um, here, there's room for two."_

 _Daphne hesitantly walked over to him, and Harry donned the Cloak over the two of them. He swallowed. They were touching now, and delicious warmth radiated from her. He felt himself warming up too because of it and everything inside him seemed to tingle._

 _"Um, what do you want to do now?" Daphne asked. She sounded just as nervous as Harry. Her breath softly tickled his neck as she said it, and he felt gooseflesh spread up his entire body._

 _"This way," Harry whispered, and they started walking along the corridor. Harry's mind was racing like never before, and he furiously thought of what to do now. Thought after question after thought about how he should act, how she would think about him, and most of all how wonderful and yet bloody terrifying at the same time this was raged through him, but he didn't have a chance to really concentrate on any of that. He glanced at his… date, but to his relief, she smiled at him. He'd never felt as giddy as he did now, and he thought his smile would break his face._

 _"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Daphne asked._

 _"Yeah. Erm, wait, no, it's a surprise. Trust me, it'll be worth it." She threw him a dubious look, but said nothing._

 _A few more corridors and two more stairs later, they arrived at a bare stone wall._

 _"Ta daa," Harry said._

 _"Wha..."_

 _"Watch. Oh, and please don't be scared." He hesitated. This was the part where he feared she would be scared, be afraid of him. He breathed in shakily, and wished more than ever he was a Gryffindor._

"Open," _he hissed in Parseltongue. Daphne jumped and smothered a scream._

 _"Harry, I'm scared," she moaned._

 _"Please Daphne, don't be. All I did was tell it to open. Look!" A low rumbling sound was heard as some of the seams between the large granite stones started expanding. Daphne looked enthralled as she watched a dark passage slowly appear out of nowhere. The rumbling stopped, and the two Slytherins stood before a dark, arched passageway._

 _"This leads to the fields outside, near the greenhouses" Harry said. "Erm, I'm going to tell it to light up now, alright?"_

 _Daphne nodded, but kept staring at the passage._

"Light the way," _Harry whispered, again in Parseltongue, and one by one, the torches on the left wall lit up with a whooshing noise._

 _"Ready?" He asked. Daphne nodded again and they entered the passageway. It was a high corridor, with a smooth, even stone floor. The torches provided enough light, and Harry couldn't help but feel excited, just like every time he used this tunnel._

 _Sirius told him last summer that he, Professor Lupin, Harry's dad and Pettigrew had discovered a secret passageway here, but they never figured out a way to access it. Harry told Ginny about it the first week of the term, and they both agreed to try and open it as soon as they could. They met outside the Gryffindor common room the next Saturday night and followed Sirius' instructions on where to find it. But the only thing they found was a solid wall, and they found the same problem the Marauders had: it couldn't be opened._

 _It was Ginny who eventually solved the riddle, and she suggested using Parseltongue. Lo and behold, the secret opened up for them._

 _Everything about the passageway was adventurous, Harry thought: its secrecy, its darkness, the fact that it could only be opened by speaking Parseltongue and the fact that not even the Marauders could access it._

 _Daphne apparently didn't share Harry's enthusiasm. She looked more scared than ever. He was pleasantly surprised when she grabbed his hand as the passage closed behind him._

 _"Don't worry. I'm here," he said. It was out before he could even think of it, he stuttered and stumbled over the words, and he wondered why on earth he even said it. But Daphne smiled at him, tightened her grip on his hand and walked even closer to him. Harry wondered how much more he could handle before he exploded._

 _"So what is this corridor?" She asked. "I've never heard of it before."_

 _"I don't know exactly," Harry admitted. "But I think it's created by Salazar Slytherin himself."_ _He saw Daphne look at him in surprise. He was amazed at his ability to have a reasonable conversation while she was holding his hand._

 _"Do you remember what Professor Binns told us about the Chamber of Secrets last year?" He asked._

 _"Yes."_

 _"I think this passageway was made around the same time. I mean, it's hidden, it's secret and it has to be opened by speaking Parseltongue. That can't be a coincidence, right?"_

 _"Hmm," Daphne said. "No, I guess not. But why would he make it?"_

 _"Not a clue," Harry chuckled. "But he made a secret underground chamber with a statue of himself in it as well. Who knows what he must've been thinking!"_

 _Daphne didn't laugh with him, but he should have expected it. While she was much more moderate about pure-blood beliefs and the glorification of Slytherin House than their peers and, judging by what she told him, her parents, she still grew up with them. She repeatedly told him it was hard to just shake that off. He was more than willing to believe that she was trying, however._

 _The passageway then began spiralling upward, and soon enough they encountered a short stairway, ending with a wooden door. He led her up the stairs and opened the door for her._

 _"Oh no, no, no, close the door, Harry, that's way too cold!" Daphne shouted. She let go of his hand and crossed her arms over her chest protectively. Indeed, Harry felt like he'd just opened the door to a fresh hell. Snow blew into their faces and further into the passageway, the wind howled in his ears and his head immediately started to hurt because of the cold. He closed the door again, and the noise died down immediately._

 _"Sorry," he murmured as Daphne glared at him. "Hang on; I know some charms that will help."_

 _He pulled out his wand and cast a warming charm over the two of them, and another charm he'd read about a few months back. On one of his visits to Hagrid, who was one of the few people that was kind to him, he and Ginny arrived there shivering and miserably cold. Hagrid took pity on them, made them promise not to tell anyone, and then pulled out his umbrella and taught them a charm that could block the wind._

"Ventus Clypeum," _he called and pointed his wand ahead of them._

 _"It should be alright now," he said, and he opened the door again. The wind howled still, but he couldn't feel it anymore. It felt like he was wrapped up in a very comfortable, warm cocoon. With Daphne._

 _"Better now?" He asked._

 _"Yes, but don't ever do anything like that ever again," Daphne replied. "Where did you learn that, anyway?"_

 _"Oh, erm, Ginny and I read about it somewhere." Daphne didn't really look happy and Harry strongly doubted his ability to lie. "Erm, shall we, then?" He asked._

 _"Right."_

 _They were about to walk forward again, but then they encountered yet another problem. There was a thick layer of snow outside, but they were both wearing slippers. Harry cursed himself for not thinking ahead properly, but Daphne solved it for them._

 _"This is why you need to tell a girl where you're going to take her on a date in advance," she said primly. She pulled out her wand and melted a path of snow before them._

 _"Brilliant," Harry laughed and they finally went through the doorway._

 _They found themselves on top of one of the hills near the greenhouses at the south-east side of the castle. It had a perfect view of the lake ahead of them, with the boathouse prominently in view. To their right lay the castle in all its glory. With the snow-covered roofs, towers and many lights peeking out of the windows, it might as well have been the scene in a snow globe._

 _They were far enough from the grounds that they weren't bothered by the Dementors, and Harry was very glad for that. After his encounter with one on the Hogwarts Express and later during that Quidditch match, he wanted to avoid going near them whenever he could._

 _He remembered it well, watching from the stands with Daphne. He was still in turmoil about her then, constantly wondering what to do, how to behave around her, what to say to her. Sirius encouraged him to ask her on a date, but he didn't know where to start at all, and he thought he'd rather face another Basilisk than walking up to her and asking her out._

 _He was glad to be next to her during that match, yet at the same time he wished he was up there on a broom, chasing the Snitch._

 _Since his first flying lesson, the one where Malfoy had stolen Longbottom's Remembrall, Harry was certain that flying was the best thing in the world. The freedom, the speed, the wind blowing in his face and the sheer thrill was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. The only thing that marred the memory was later that same day, after dinner, when Harry broke into Malfoy's trunk to steal the Remembrall and give it back to Longbottom. Malfoy had found out about it, and that was when the bullying started in earnest._

 _He was still looking at the Quidditch players and Daphne longingly when the Dementors entered the stadium. He woke up in the Hospital Wing later and had to face taunt after taunt about fainting the next weeks._

 _"Oh, Harry, it's beautiful!" Daphne breathed, and she grasped his hand again. Any thoughts of Dementors promptly disappeared. "Look at the stars!"_

 _Harry looked up and his heart swelled at the sight. It was a new moon tonight, so there was nothing hindering the stars from shining as brightly as they did now. The band of the Milky Way stretched out most prominently, but there was not a single place in the sky not filled with stars. And they all had different colours too: red, yellow, white, blue, purple. Even though they regularly had to watch the night sky for Astronomy, this sight was still as beautiful as ever, and there was no stern Professor here to prevent him from simply watching and enjoying the sky._

 _Daphne let go of him again and he tore his gaze away. She smiled at him and melted the snow in a broad area around them._

 _"Come on, let's sit down," she said. She lowered herself to the ground and pulled Harry with her. The warming charms prevented them from being bothered by the cold ground. He wondered what it would be like to fly on a night like this._

 _"Told you it'd be worth it," he said._

 _"Yes, you're right."_

 _Neither said a word for a long time as they gazed upwards. Harry didn't mind at all. The warming charm prevented them from getting cold, but Daphne sitting so, so close to him warmed him like never before. Just when he thought he couldn't possibly be any happier, she scooted closer and laid her head on his shoulder. She sighed contently, he did too._

 _He started thinking what it would be like if Daphne were his girlfriend, like he did so often lately._

 _After Hermione was petrified last year, Harry lost his primary, and only, study partner. He still didn't know if he should call her his friend, because all they really did was study together from time to time. Still, Hermione didn't run screaming when he entered the room, or sneered at him when he tried to sit down next to her in class, so he didn't feel the need to complain. Better yet, the girl was amazingly smart, so it was very useful keeping her around, even if she was incredibly bossy and annoying from time to time._

 _But then she got petrified, and Harry was all alone again. Hagrid was sent to Azkaban, and Hedwig, his only other companion, wasn't a good study partner. That was when Daphne started sitting next to him during classes and meals. It took him a good two weeks before they started talking to each other, but eventually they got to know each other better, and Harry was pleased to know that she wasn't as bad as she seemed. Her friend, Tracey Davis was kind to him as well, if a little distant. Yes, they were friends with Pansy Parkinson, who Harry hated with a passion, but they were still nice to him._

 _When Harry mentioned her to Sirius during their stressful, but unforgettable stay at Diagon Alley, his godfather never stopped needling him about asking her out. Harry didn't know when he started having feelings for her, but when he saw her walking down the magical street towards the end of August, he was momentarily frozen. He never noticed before how her hair shined in the sunlight, or how cute her small nose was. Or the way her brown eyes were so dark, yet so lively at the same time. He remembered well how she'd caught his gaze and smiled at him. There was no more doubt after that. Sirius obviously noticed Harry's reaction, and he didn't hear the end of it anymore. Even when he was back at Hogwarts again and they occasionally sent letters to each other, Sirius didn't stop badgering Harry about Daphne._

 _It took him the combined force of Sirius, Ginny, and the fact that she was leaving for the holidays to finally gather the courage and ask her out. He almost didn't, because he was afraid what everyone would say about Daphne if people found out she was that close to him, but Ginny solved that by suggesting him to have the date at night. Harry didn't know what he'd do without her. She even helped him with picking out a Christmas present for her! Speaking of which…_

 _"Daphne?"_

 _"Hmm?"_

 _"I… erm… I got you something for Christmas."_

 _"Really?" She pulled her head away from his shoulder and looked up at him eagerly._

 _"Yeah, hang on," Harry groped around in his pockets and fished out a small package, wrapped in shiny, green paper. When he'd wrapped it earlier this evening, he was quite proud of his work. But now he hoped she didn't notice the slight tear, or the messy edges, or the fold in the tape. But she beamed at him as he handed it over. Still smiling, she very neatly and carefully started unwrapping it while Harry nervously played with his hands._

 _She gasped as her present feel out of the wrapping and into her lap. She picked it up to get a closer look at it. It was a simple golden necklace, with two intertwined snakes as a detail._

 _"I hope you like it." Harry said meekly._

 _"Like it? I love it! Oh, thank you!" She squealed, then launched herself at him and hugged him tightly. Harry patted her back and relished the feel of her body pressed against him._

 _"It's got a notice-me-not charm on it," he said as they pulled back. "You can activate it with your wand and-."_

 _"What?" Daphne pulled back, looking affronted. "Why?"_

 _"Well… You know what they all say and write about me, right?" She nodded. "Well, I guess your parents wouldn't be too happy if they saw you wearing something you got from me. Nor would anyone else, really. So, erm, now you can wear it without having to say that I gave it to you."_

 _Daphne stared at him, then at the present. She then looked back at him, her eyes shining in determination, and put the necklace around her neck without further comment._

 _"I don't need that, Harry," she said. She looked him in the eye with a fierce expression._

 _"You don't?"_

 _"No! Because I like you!" Harry heart fluttered. "And you're not the monster everyone says you are. Bugger them if they think that of you. I don't care about them, and I'll wear this proudly!"_

 _Harry felt warmth spread through him at her proclamation. She even swore, something he'd never heard her do before._

 _"You… You'd do that?"_

 _Daphne's look softened and she put her finger under his chin._

 _"Is that really so hard to believe?"_

 _"I…"_

 _"Did you think I would be ashamed of being so close to you?"_

 _"I dunno," he answered truthfully. He swallowed. "Do you really like me?"_

 _Daphne giggled softly and pulled her finger away. "Of course I do. Why else would I agree to be here with you in the middle of the night? In fact, I don't just like you…" She leaned over and whispered in his ear: "I think I fancy you, Harry Potter."_

 _Harry swallowed again and tried to ignore the gooseflesh spreading over his body. He pulled back and they locked eyes. She inched closer and closer to him. He saw the stars reflect in her eyes, he saw her adorable nose, and her lips looked so enticing, but he was always drawn back to her eyes. He leaned in towards her as well. He felt her hot breath on his face, energy soared through his veins and his heart pounded in his chest. Then, finally, their lips pressed together and any coherent thought left him._

* * *

Sirius laughed heartily and slapped Harry on his back. "There we go! I'm so proud of you, Harry!"

"Thanks," Harry said. He felt his face heating up.

"So what happened after that?"

"I asked her to be my girlfriend, and she said yes. Then we went back to bed. And I didn't see her again after that."

"Congratulations!" His face fell when he saw Harry's expression. "But now we're…"

"Yeah."

Sirius patted Harry's shoulder. "Well, erm… I'll leave you to your thoughts, then," he said, and he made his way towards his own bed again.

"And Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Try not to think about it too much. You're only thirteen, and you've snogged a beautiful girl already! Be happy about that, alright?"

"Alright." Harry crawled back under the covers again as Sirius turned off his light. "'Night, Sirius."

"Sweet dreams!" Sirius sniggered.

Sirius was fast asleep, but Harry wasn't. He stared into the darkness for a long time after their conversation, listening to Sirius' snoring. Because it wasn't quite as simple as what he told Sirius.

* * *

 _They were almost back at the Slytherin Common Room when Harry somewhat regained his ability to think._

 _"Daphne?" He turned to her, but kept hold of her hand._

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Would you… Would you be my girlfriend?"_

 _"Of course I will, silly!" She giggled. She gave him a peck on the lips again._

 _"Brilliant!" He breathed. When he looked at her, he was quite certain he would never get enough of the sight of her. But she wasn't smiling back. In fact, she looked very uncertain, conflicted even._

 _"Harry?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"What if we… Erm, you know, I've been thinking."_

 _"About what?"_

 _Daphne was silent for a while, and she looked at their joined hands._

 _"What if we just run away?" She asked, meeting his gaze again. "Together. We quit Hogwarts and hide. Maybe move to another country." Harry stared at her, and her face fell. "I mean..." She said quickly. "If you don't want to, I'm alright with that, but I just thought that maybe…"_

 _"No! I mean, yes, I've been thinking about that too!" Harry interrupted. "But what about your parents? And your little sister? You have loads of family, right, won't you miss them?"_

 _"Yes, of course I would!" She nearly shouted. "That's what makes this so hard. But there's another thing, and it's so unfair, but… I can't do anything about it, Harry!"_

 _"What are you talking about?"_

 _"I'm…" She took a deep breath and briefly looked away from him. "Dad wrote me last week. He said he received an offer from the Malfoy family." A sense of dread enveloped Harry._

 _"And?"_

 _"It was an offer of a betrothal," she said. "I'm getting betrothed to Draco."_

 _Harry stared at her. She swallowed before she continued. "The arrangement will be sealed during the holidays, Dad said. And I… Harry, I don't want to marry him!" She flung herself at him and held him with trembling arms. Harry rubbed her back and felt his stomach sinking. He should have known the night was way too good to be true._

 _But in a bout of wild recklessness, he pried her away from him._

 _"Alright," he said. "Let's do it." Daphne's mouth opened in shock, and she looked at him with a hopeful expression._

 _"You said a while back that betrothals can be broken, right?" He asked her._

 _"Yes, they can."_

 _"We can't run now, not without… We'll wait until after the Holidays, alright?"_

 _"Why can't we run now?"_

 _"Well, we need to buy stuff, don't we? Like clothes and brooms and passports. And do some other stuff to make sure we don't get caught. And I don't want to leave Ginny and…"_

 _He paused. He couldn't leave without Sirius, but how could he tell her about being in contact with his godfather, who happened to be the most wanted criminal in Britain? A pained expression crossed Daphne's face, and he made a decision._

 _"I'm sorry. I know you want to leave now, just as much as I do, but there's more, and I can't tell you that right now. I mean, I want to, but…" He paused, then grabbed her hand. "We'll leave as soon as we can. And I won't go without you."_

 _"Promise?"_

 _"Promise."_


	5. Chapter 5: Babble Bonanza

Harry should have expected the others to pick up on his distracted mood the next day. He did try to concentrate on Melchior's lesson, which included perfecting their disillusionment charm and learning a neat spell that showed every human presence in the nearby area, but his mind kept wandering back to Daphne. Sometimes he felt himself grinning stupidly when he thought back to their kiss, and other times he was unable to shake off the dreadful feeling when he thought of his broken promise to her. He tried convincing himself he couldn't have foreseen getting caught while visiting Sirius, but it didn't help.

He didn't even know whether she still was his girlfriend after he'd done that to her. He didn't see her name mentioned once in the papers, so the Ministry probably didn't know about their relationship.

"...Isn't that right, Harry?" Melchior's strong voice broke through his thoughts.

"What?" He looked up at him. He saw Sirius smirking at him from the couch. Selene was outside again.

"I was just telling you to not forget the right order of charms: first you cast your _Homenium Revalo_ , then, and only if it's safe, you cancel your disillusionment charm."

"Why would you cancel your disillusionment charm in the first place?" He asked. "Sir?"

Ginny snorted, and he poked her in the side.

"Well Harry, if you'd listened, you would have known. Is there something you'd like to tell us, maybe?"

"No."

"No, _sir_."

"No, sir."

"Of course you don't. We've only known each other for three days after all. Well, your lessons for today are finished anyway, so I'll leave you two to it. Tomorrow you're going to practice more. I think we can have you do some hands-on practice as well. Class dismissed." He unceremoniously fished the dining table out of his pocket, put it at his feet and enlarged it again. He then turned around and walked into the kitchen. The door slammed shut behind him.

"You know, I think he's got a secret basement underneath the kitchen," Ginny said. "He's in there all the time! Cooking doesn't nearly take that long!" Harry tried to laugh with her, but didn't quite manage it.

"I'm going upstairs," he said to her.

It didn't surprise him at all when he heard a knock on the door shortly after he'd thrown himself onto the bed. He felt irritated for having to be someone's company. Probably Ginny's.

"Come in," he said. Ginny peeked around the corner.

"Hi," she said. "Can I come in?"

"I already said you could." She ignored his short reply and made her way over to his bed, nimbly dodging the many articles of clothing that lay about. Harry noted that he should clean the room up soon. He'd fished out a pair Sirius' socks from his own backpack yesterday, and he didn't know how they ended up there.

"Budge over," Ginny commanded. Harry pulled in his legs and she sat down on the freed space.

"Sorry for the mess," he said.

"That's alright. You should see our room." She paused. "On second thought, maybe you shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"It's a _girl's_ room, Harry."

"What and you're allowed to be in our room? That's not fair!" Harry said, mock outraged. Ginny slapped his raised knee in jest.

"So what's up?" She asked, leaning back against the footboard.

"Nothing."

"Right. Nothing. That's why you didn't notice when Melchior and I cracked jokes about you a couple of times and you didn't react, wasn't it?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, really!"

"Oh."

Harry looked at the clothes-covered floor and Ginny tapped a rhythm on her knees. Neither said anything for a moment.

"Strange, isn't it?" Harry asked eventually. She cocked an eyebrow. "I mean, here we are. Didn't think we'd spend the holidays in a shack in Norway, did you?"

"No, but I wasn't expecting to run away from the Ministry together with Harry Potter and Sirius Black, either."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, it's wild, isn't it? You could make a book out of that, you know? _"Kidnapped by the Boy Who Lived and his Mass-Murdering Godfather"_." Ginny laughed out loud.

"Oh no!" She wailed. "Won't someone rescue me from their evil clutches?"

"Hey honey," Harry grunted with the dirtiest voice his throat would allow. "I'm Goyle and I'm here to save you!"

 _"Goyle?"_ Ginny shrieked. "Harry, that's just…"

"No, Goyle isn't really the saviour type, is he? How about Snape, though? _"Thought you could skive off your Potions essay by being kidnapped, Weasley? Ten points from Gryffindor. Now, give me your hand. I will escort you to my…"_ " Ginny grabbed a stray sock and threw it at his head before he could finish that sentence, but Harry caught it and tossed it back. She ducked away in time.

"That's rude, mister!" She said. "Throwing your stinky socks at a lady. What would Sirius say if he found out?"

"He'd probably cheer for me, I guess," Harry mused. "Or sniff it. It's his sock, by the way, or at least I think it is."

"I hope it is yours, for you. You really need to wash your feet otherwise," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"No, mine are clean. You could smell them if you want to?" He said. He waggled his toes in her direction.

"I'll pass, thanks," Ginny giggled.

Again a pause. Harry scratched his neck.

"You miss her, don't you?" she asked in a completely different, much tenderer tone. Harry looked back up at her.

"You know, that's what Sirius asked me too," he said.

"Oh, really? And what did you say then?"

"I said I kissed her."

"You…" Ginny stared at him.

"... Kissed her, yeah."

"When?"

"That night we had that date, actually. I didn't really have time to tell you about that yet, you know, with that hearing about Buckbeak, and then this whole thing..."

"Yeah, I understand, don't worry about it," she said. She paused, then leaned forward slightly. "How was it?"

"Brilliant," Harry said with a sappy grin. "Just brilliant."

"Oh." She was quiet for a moment and leaned back against the footrest again. "But that's not why you were miles away today."

Harry sighed. "No."

"Care to share?"

Harry would have refused, but he felt a need for a confidant. And, being such a help in arranging Harry and Daphne's date, she probably deserved to know. "I miss her already," he said. Ginny nodded. "That's what I told Sirius. But there's more." He swallowed. It was incredibly hard to think about it, let alone say it out loud. "She's getting betrothed to Malfoy."

"What?!"

"Yeah, thanks. Shout the whole house together, why don't you?"

"Oh, calm down, Harry, that doesn't matter. You told Sirius already, and it's not like Selene and Melchior don't know every little thing about you and me as well," Ginny reprimanded him. Harry furrowed his brow. So much for keeping things to himself.

"I didn't tell Sirius," he muttered.

"Why not?" She asked. Harry shrugged, but didn't reply. "Well, never mind that now. Are you serious?"

"About what?"

"About Daphne getting betrothed. Is she really?"

Yeah… yeah, she is." Although the mere thought of it made him more furious than ever before.

"She didn't just say that, then? She didn't make it up?"

"No!" Harry cried. "Why would you even say that?! No, of course she didn't!"

"Alright, steady," Ginny said, "I was just…"

"Go on?"

"Never mind. When did she tell you that?"

"Right after she agreed to be my girlfriend," Harry grumbled.

Ginny winced. "And now we're here and she's…"

"Yeah, I know." He ran his hand through his hair and stared at a stray t-shirt for a moment.

"She wanted to run away with me," he said. Ginny, who was fidgeting the bedsheets, paused and looked up at him.

"But you didn't?"

"Well, obviously, since I'm here and she's still at Hogwarts. What d'you think?" Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, Ginny, sometimes you're just as thick as your brother, Ronald… Hey!" The very same sock hit him right in his face. "What was that for?"

"What do you think? That was for being a prat!" Ginny shouted. She stood up from the bed. "Come talk to me when you're not so rude anymore." She turned around very quickly, her hair whipping behind her, and she marched out of the room.

"Ginny!" Harry came after her into the hallway, but she smashed the door to her room shut before he could reach her. Wheezing in annoyance, he turned around again, intent on brooding on his bed as long as he could. But instead he found himself face-to-face with Selene, who'd just returned from the bathroom.

"Girl troubles, Harry?" She asked amusedly. Harry avoided her gaze.

"Can I pass?" He asked.

"No," she smirked. She closed the door to Harry and Sirius' room with a wave of her wand. "Let's go outside."

"I don't want to."

"And I don't care. Come on, get your shoes on. We're going for a walk."

* * *

A few minutes later, Harry put his hands in the pockets of his coat. Snow crunched under their boots. The air was so fresh that it hurt his nose every time he breathed in, and a soft breeze was enough to chill his face and ears. He felt colder than ever before.

Harry couldn't see the mountains surrounding them too well. In this cold, polar darkness they were threatening, looming forms, their black shapes towering above them silently. But the sound travelled, reverberated against the immensely high cliff-sides and reminded Harry time and time again that the house and surrounding woods were situated in a narrow ravine, tucked away in what truly felt like the edge of the world.

"Did you know that spying on you was my first real mission?" Selene asked. The coat she was wearing was exactly the same as the one he'd been given by Melchior this morning (Melchior didn't really explain where he'd gotten the coats from. Harry didn't really want to ask). It was probably about the same size as well. Her blond hair stirred slightly in the breeze, and their breath came out in small clouds.

"Mission?"

"Yeah. Melchior hasn't come to that part of the story yet, but back in the day, he was the leader of quite a big underground society. Officially it disbanded when he came here, but I think he never gave up on it."

"Why not?" He asked. To his surprise, Selene started laughing. It was a strange, loud, high-pitched laugh, and it echoed through the trees, along with the crunching sound of their footsteps.

"Oh, Harry, you don't even know how fucking good that question is," Selene finally said. Harry started to realize how much she liked swearing. It annoyed him a bit. "He can't let things go. Let's keep it on that. Anyway, he trained me, much in the same way as he's doing with you and Ginny now. And now, y'know, with all that's been happening, it's finally coming to good use."

"But why you?"

"Well Melchior isn't really in any shape of shadowing you three for a couple of months straight, is he? Have you seen his back? It's a disaster!""No, that's not what I meant," Harry said. "I mean why you? Why not someone else? What secret society are you talking about and where is it now? You're talking about it like someone _died,_ you know?" He chuckled. Selene didn't.

She abruptly stopped walking. Harry did too. He saw that her gaze was distant, her eyes unreadable as opposed to twinkling with mirth just a few seconds ago. She took a pocket knife out of her jacket, clicked it open and started fiddling with it.

"I'm sorry," Harry said hastily. "I didn't mean… it was just a joke…" Selene slowly seemed to return to the present. She took a deep breath, but didn't stop playing with the knife.

"I guess," Harry said. He dug into the thick layer of snow with the nose of his boot. They stood there for a moment. Then Selene started walking again. Harry trailed behind her.

"So you know everything about me, then?" He asked as he caught up with her.

"Well, not everything, but, yes, I do know a lot," she said. They walked further into the forest. There were a lot footprints scattered around between the evergreens; not nearly all of them looked to have been made by humans. But Harry couldn't for the life of him tell what kind of animals had made the maze of tracks around them.

"I assume you're asking whether I know about you and Daphne," Selene said. Harry nodded. "To answer your question, yes, I do. And also about the promise you were forced to break."

Harry tore his gaze from the snow ahead of them and looked at her in shock. "You know about that too?"

"Yes. I listened in on your conversations, remember?" she said. "Don't worry, I dispelled all the tracking and recording charms I had on you when you arrived here, I'm not spying on you anymore. Well?"

"Well what?"

"What are you going to do about it?"

"About the tracking charms?" He asked, confused by the disjointed conversation he was having with her.

Selene looked at him for a moment, then drew her wand with her free hand and conjured a simple wooden bench under one of the nearest trees. With a slight jerk of her head, she gestured them to sit down. He sat down to her right.

The bench was rather small and, to Harry's embarrassment, they had to sit quite close to each other. Sitting so close to a girl felt not unlike in did with Daphne, that wonderful night. But he remembered, vividly, the sheer joy he felt when she accepted to be his girlfriend, and he was absolutely certain he shouldn't be feeling anything else even remotely like what he felt now in the company of anyone but his girlfriend.

"So," Selene finally said. "What are you going to do about it?" Getting no answer from Harry, she continued. "I don't know every single thought you have, but if I was to guess, I'd say you aren't happy that your girlfriend is getting betrothed to anyone, let alone Draco Malfoy."

"No, of course I'm bloody not!" Harry erupted. He sprang up from the bench and stamped on the snow in frustration. His foot sunk into it and got stuck, which only angered him further. "I don't want that filthy ponce anywhere near her! She doesn't belong to him!"

He managed to free his foot and started pacing in front of the bench. "And to answer your question: I'm not going to do anything about it, since I'm stuck here in some bloody shack in the snow in another country! Where everyone seems to think it's their business to know every single thing about me! And Daphne is now in Malfoy's clutches because I was too cowardly to tell her about Sirius!" Selene hadn't moved during his outburst and kept quiet while he raged.

"Well, technically speaking, it _is_ my business knowing everything about you. Or at least it was, until you three arrived here. Melchior's too. And Sirius and Ginny simply care a lot about you." She hesitated. "So do I, actually."

Harry stopped pacing and looked at her in confusion. "But we've only met a couple of days ago… oh." He walked back to the bench and dropped down beside her.

"Yeah." For a long moment, both stared ahead of them without saying a word, and Harry was once again reminded of how dark it really was out here. That dark blue light was still everywhere he looked, and the moon was, as always, hidden behind the clouds.

A sound to his right startled him, but he only saw a large chunk of snow falling off a branch. The dull _thud_ echoed among the trees.

The longer they sat there, the more sounds became clear to Harry: the wind rushing through the forest. The creaking of the taller trees, swaying in the cold breeze. The flowing of a brook trapped under the ice somewhere behind them. The call of what Harry thought was a bird of prey in the distance. The occasional loud crack that echoed between the mountains surrounding them. Selene told him it was the glacier at the far end of the ravine. It always moved, and that caused the occasional loud noise.

"Ginny didn't believe it," Harry said, breaking the silence. "The betrothal. I think she doesn't really like Daphne that much. Still thinks she's like the other Slytherins, you know? Racist, elitist, and a stuck-up bitch in general."

"My, my, Harry, such language! What would Sirius say?" Selene chuckled.

"What? Oh, I probably learnt that from him, so he'd probably slap me on the back and congratulate me," Harry grinned. "Probably throw in a couple swearwords himself as well."

"Yeah, he's like that, isn't he?"

"He is," Harry said, smiling. He then remembered something he'd meant to ask her a while back. "Has there been a notification in the newspaper already about Daphne's betrothal? She told me there would be one once it was officially arranged."

"I can't say that I've seen it," Selene said. "I have to admit that once I heard of that betrothal, I kept my eye out for a notification about it in the papers, but I've seen nothing." Harry was once again reminded that she and Melchior knew everything about him. He still felt unnerved at the whole situation, and his expression must have betrayed his thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Selene said tentatively, "I don't really know how it must feel, but I guess you aren't really happy with me and Melchior prying into your life like this."

Harry found it difficult to answer that. Was he angry at her? She did spy on him for half a year without his permission, and she knew all of his most private details. But did he resent her and Melchior for it?

"I… it's okay," he said eventually. "I mean, it did save us from the Ministry, right? And we're safe now. Aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are," Selene said confidently. "Melchior made the protections around the house himself. He'll probably teach you about that later, it's quite interesting." She looked around. "It's getting late, let's go back. You don't want to be out here too long, the cold and the darkness tire you out a lot quicker than you think." Harry, who was thoroughly fed up with being outside, readily agreed with her. They walked back in silence, the repetitive sound of snow crunching under their boots slowly drifting to the back of his mind.

"Do you know what Ginny has against me?" Selene asked after a while.

"What?" If he was expecting any question from her, it wasn't that.

"I mean," she fished out her pocket knife again. "We never really talk when we're together in my room, and she's never really that friendly towards me. So I thought that maybe she doesn't like me?" For some reason, she glanced at him with an expression that was different from the normal, carefree look she usually had.

"I, erm…" Harry began, "I dunno. She never said anything about that, not to me, anyway. So, um, I dunno?"

Selene felt the tip of the knife with her fingertip. "Oh, well, never mind then," she said, not taking her eyes off the knife. "Forget I asked."

Neither said anything anymore after that, and Harry was quite glad when they arrived at the house again.

* * *

Ginny wasn't overly warm towards him during dinner that evening, but she didn't mention their fight at all, and he didn't feel a need to so either.

"I hope you don't mind the fact that we eat the same every day," Melchior said. Indeed, this was the third time in a row they were eating mashed potatoes with ground beef. At least there were some beans to mix it up a bit now. "You'll have to understand that with living such an isolated life, food is sometimes tricky to come by."

"Where does this come from, then?" Sirius asked. He ate more at every meal, and Harry was happy to see him beginning to look healthier already. He somewhat regained the colour in his face, and he didn't have that haunted look in his eyes anymore that he had last summer when he first approached Harry in the park near the Dursley's.

"The potatoes I bought a long while back. I just store them here in bulks, that's not the problem. I've got loads of tin cans, too, that's where the beans came from. The meat's the really tricky part, though. There aren't a lot of cows here, and I don't want to come into the small store in the village nearby every single week."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Because they don't know we live here. Or at least, they think we moved away about eight years ago."

"And why's that?" Sirius asked. Seeing Melchior's reluctance to answer, he pressed on. "If you want us to trust you, you'll have to tell us a bit more about yourselves. Why would you want everyone to think you moved away? What happened, did you kill someone?"

"Kill someone?" Melchior's face crinkled into a rare smile. "No, no, nothing of that. No, what happened was Selene was done with primary school at the time. Sending her there was hard enough, with her frequent bouts of accidental magic for example, but I couldn't send her to high school would have been tricky, because, well…"

"I don't exist," Selene said. She chuckled at the looks Harry, Ginny and Sirius were giving her. "No, it's true! Officially, I don't exist. Never did, either. Not in Britain, not here. No official records, no birth certificates, no name in the book of Hogwarts attendees, nothing!"

"It's safer that way," Melchior took over again. "And it was no problem with primary school. It's all local, you see. I kept her attendance a secret from the Ministry, both muggle and magical, but I couldn't do the same trick with high schools again. She also needed a proper magical education, and I wasn't about to make her existence known to everyone by sending her to Durmstrang or any other magical school, so I trained her here."

"Couldn't you just have used a false name, then?" Harry asked.

"Oh, of course," Melchior said. Selene snorted. "And good luck explaining to a little girl that although everyone had always called her Selene she actually needs to pretend her name is 'Heidi'."

"But why? Why keep her hidden like that?" Sirius asked.

Well…" Melchior exchanged a long look with Selene. "Well, suffice to say we've got our reasons. Maybe you'll know them one day, maybe you won't. Let's keep it to that, shall we?"

"But-" Sirius began.

"Ah, but Harry, what did I hear about Daphne Greengrass?" Melchior said loudly, glancing at Sirius, then at Harry. "Something about her being-"

"She's my girlfriend, yes," Harry said quickly, before Melchior could continue. He could feel Sirius' appraising look from beside him.

"A Greengrass, eh?" Melchior said, winking at him. "I knew Marcus Greengrass during the war. He did everything to remain neutral at the time. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd pull the same tactics now as he did then, with everything that's been going on. Think of the odd bribe here, a promise there, some money towards the right people, that sort of thing. He's a smart man, if anything, and a true Slytherin. He'll definitely have noticed all the signs that Voldemort isn't dead at all."

Harry stared at the man. Was he trying to imply something with that?

"And he wasn't the only one at that," Melchior continued, unperturbed. "Right, Sirius? The Robards family is a famous example. And I think the Blacks never aligned themselves with Voldemort either?"

"No, they didn't," Sirius replied slowly, still glancing around the table suspiciously. "But I wouldn't exactly call their behaviour 'neutral.' It's no big secret that they funded his campaign indirectly. And dear Bellatrix and Narcissa were firmly in Voldemort's league."

As conversation drifted further away from any dangerous subjects, Harry still felt uneasy. Was that what's been going on? Was Daphne a tool for the Greengrasses to remain neutral?

* * *

After Harry's walk and talk with Selene that day, she promised him she would discretely search the newspapers for an announcement of the betrothal of Daphne and Malfoy. It was the morning of the second of January when he noticed Selene's eyes grow wide for a moment while reading the paper, and the terrible feeling in his stomach only worsened when she looked up at him and nodded solemnly. Harry would read the announcement himself later that day ( _"Mr Marcus Greengrass and Mrs Dyrope Greengrass are pleased to announce the betrothal of their daughter, Daphne Apolline Greengrass, to Draco Lucius Malfoy"_ , written in an elaborate font), but he already knew.

Ginny didn't bother him anymore about not telling Sirius, but some of the looks she threw him when Daphne came up in conversations were bad enough in their own way.

Truth be told, Harry didn't even know _why_ he kept Daphne's betrothal a secret from his godfather. In the first place it was because he was tired, angry, and somehow disappointed at Sirius when Harry told him about kissing Daphne. _"Be happy about that,"_ he'd said. But how could he possibly be happy about this whole situation?

His girlfriend, if she even was his after he'd broken such an important promise on her, was going to be married off to _Draco Malfoy_ of all people. The boy who repeatedly hexed Harry and foulmouthed him to the other Slytherins and the Daily Prophet. Her father-in-law would be the man that gave Ginny the diary, and, if what Sirius said was true, he was also a ruthless Death Eater before Voldemort disappeared twelve years ago.

The longer he thought about it, the angrier it made him. A vision of Daphne living in Malfoy Manor as a prisoner sprang up much too often, and it always left him feeling like an iron fist had gripped his insides and squeezed them tightly. Then he would see a vision of Malfoy kissing her and at that point he was just about ready to cry. Not that he would ever mention _that_ to anyone else.

He knew it was unfair of him to hold this against Sirius, but he could already see Ginny's annoyingly smug look in his mind when he would tell her she was right and he was wrong about not telling him. He wasn't about to give her that satisfaction.

Besides, Daphne only sparsely came up in conversations as the days progressed anyway. He still didn't know how he should feel about that. Ginny did try her best to keep him from brooding too much about it, but Harry felt like she was fighting a losing battle. There just simply wasn't anything interesting to do other than to sit in their rooms together and talk.

It was a time of year that Melchior called the Polar Night. The sun hadn't risen in the time that they've been here and it would remain dark until next week. The "days" felt very strange because of that, and it made Harry even more tired. There were frequent snowstorms, and that, in combination with the almost continuous wind, was enough to make going outside a gruelling experience. Yet Selene still occasionally took him and Ginny, and sometimes Sirius too, for a short walk.

"You'll go mad if you stay inside all winter. Especially with us five cooped up in there," was her explanation. If the sights she showed them weren't so fascinating and strangely beautiful despite the subtly ominous mood that seemed to reign this place, Harry would have been much more irritated with her.

The lessons with Melchior progressed steadily, and those were the only times when Harry could stop thinking and brooding so much. He and Ginny proved to be talented enough at sneaking around, Melchior was pleased to notice.

Harry had already had much practice at Hogwarts. He'd often wandered the halls at night, sometimes for a midnight snack in the kitchens, sometimes because he wanted to read a book in the library, and during last term also because Fred and George Weasley sometimes needed his help with one of their pranks. The twins wanted to cause chaos, and Harry wanted that to be aimed at the less friendly Slytherins.

Because the only thing they did together was break rules in various creative ways, they decided to be safe and not to let anyone know of their silent partnership. Only Ginny was aware of it, but only after she'd caught them in the act one night.

The partnership started one night when Harry ran into them on his way to the kitchens, while they were clearly busy doing something to the entrance to the Great Hall. Harry, who only saw the back of them whilst they were squatting near the doorway and waving their wand at it in strange patterns, was curious and walked closer to see what they were up to. But then they turned around, pinned him against the wall and pulled his Invisibility Cloak from him.

Fred and George were not above roughing him up, so Harry was quite worried what they would do to him. But his fears were allayed when they told him they'd heard of how Harry charmed his bed and his trunk to prevent his dorm mates from stealing from him or hexing him. It had worked wonders, and the other Slytherins quickly learnt not to mess with Harry anymore after Goyle and Crabbe repeatedly had to be sent to the Hospital Wing with painful, crusty burns on their hands.

The twins were impressed, and offered him a partnership. The deal was struck there and then: they would cover for each other whenever they could and Fred and George would stop pranking Harry. In return, Harry would sometimes help them set traps in and near the dungeons.

Harry wondered how they thought about him now, now that it seemed that the whole of Wizarding Britain was convinced that he'd kidnapped Ginny. That led him to another chilling thought. What would happen if, by any chance, Harry and Sirius were exonerated? Would everyone forget about it and leave him in peace? He didn't hold out much hope for that. Not after having been slandered for two and a half years by just about everyone. Perhaps, he thought, it was better to stay here. Far away from it all.


	6. Chapter 6: Play

**Author's Note:** this chapter is a little appetizer of sorts...

* * *

Melchior was pleased with Harry and Ginny's progress, and as a sort of exam he wanted to stage a break-in for Harry and Ginny to test their progress. They would wait outside in the snow while Melchior, Selene and Sirius did their best to act as if it was a normal day. The goal for Harry and Ginny would be to retrieve Harry's invisibility cloak from the house and get out again without being seen.

"But I don't want you to use anything other than a disillusionment spell and your _Homenium Revelio_ ," Melchior said while explaining the rules to everyone. "I know magic makes repairing things much easier, but I'd prefer not to do so in the first place. Me, Selene, and Sirius will just let you know when we've found you. We won't hex you and there will be no duels." Harry nodded excitedly, a grin spreading on his face. At Hogwarts, practical lessons were so much better than the normal ones, and he felt more energized than he'd felt since arriving here. But Melchior gave him a hard stare.

"I'd better see you two take this as seriously as we three are," he said while Sirius obviously resisted making _that_ joke. "This isn't for fun. If you aren't prepared to do everything you can to evade the Ministry and who knows who else will be hunting you, you'll be dead within the first month. But do your best here, and you might survive a little bit longer. You've seen the results of my training already." Harry glanced at Selene, who was leaning against the dark wooden wall, still playing with her pocket knife. She briefly flashed him a feral grin.

"I don't know about this," Sirius said. "We three know already that Harry and Ginny are going to be sneaking around. Doesn't that defeat the 'going unnoticed' purpose?"

"That crossed my mind as well," Melchior said. He scratched his beard.

"I could put a _Confundus_ spell on us?" Selene suggested brightly.

"No, I don't think that's such a good idea," Melchior said as Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. "Anyway, that's a worry for another day. Is everything clear for now?" he asked. Everyone voiced their agreement. "Excellent. Harry, Ginny, pull on your coats and step outside. Give me one minute to properly hide the cloak, and you may come in again."

He and Ginny stepped outside and a painfully cold wind chilled him immediately. Harry wondered if he would ever get used to this environment. He glanced at his watch and closed the door at 2:24 precisely.

"So what do we do?" Ginny asked him.

"Disillusion ourselves first. We can't cast it silently yet, so we'd better do it while we're still outside," he replied. Ginny nodded and they pulled out their wands.

 _"Es Perlucidi,"_ they incanted together.

"And?" He asked Ginny.

"I think you're good. How about me?" She asked. He could see footsteps forming in the snow and Harry guessed that she was moving around a bit. All he could see of her, though, was a faint ripple.

"Perfect," he said, "how are we going to search? _Homenium Revelio_ and then comb through the house?"

"Yeah, but let's split up. If we walk next to each other we'll be easier to detect. You take the ground floor and I go upstairs?"

"Good idea, yeah." he glanced at his watch. "We've got… ten seconds left… five…" he then started counting down with his fingers before remembering they were invisible. "Alright, let's go," he finally whispered.

Tingles spread throughout his body as he slowly opened the door. It creaked louder than Harry would have wanted and he realized that they could have used one of the small windows to enter the house instead. He and Ginny were both probably skinny enough to fit through. But that didn't matter now.

He stepped inside and he felt Ginny brush up against him. He closed the door while he heard her take a couple of steps into the house. She whispered something and he felt the effects of the human-revealing spell pass him. They quickly scanned the house. Sirius was seated in the bathroom, Selene was in her room, and Melchior was… walking upstairs through the kitchen floor?

He flinched when they all suddenly disappeared again. Ginny had cancelled the spell. Remembering their plan, he quietly made his way across the room, towards where Melchior was. Behind him, he heard a creak on the stairs, but he saw no one there. Ginny was going upstairs.

He crossed the last few feet and ducked against the wall between the living room and the kitchen, intent on hearing what Melchior was doing in there. He didn't have much time thinking why exactly he'd just seen their host rise up through the kitchen floor, but it could mean that Ginny was right: Melchior did indeed spend a suspicious amount of time in the kitchen. There was something underneath the floor there. And it was probably a very good place to hide an invisibility cloak.

He put his ear against several places in the wall, and came to the conclusion that he could hear the best when he was close to the doorway. He put his ear against the rough wooden wall and held his breath while he listened. He heard nothing at first, but then a clang that sounded like a glass bumping against something. He heard it again and now he heard water splashing. Melchior was doing the dishes.

Harry began to think. If he was doing that, he probably wouldn't come out for a while yet. So how to lure him out?

Making a sound was probably his best option. He quickly discarded the idea of banging on the door. Melchior would probably be prepared for that and it would sound too intentional. He needed to make Melchior think that Harry had made a mistake, that he was being clumsy. Moving the couch? It would maybe be noisy enough for Melchior to hear, but the couch was large and heavy, and could only be moved if Harry pushed it with all his bodyweight so Melchior would know that Harry did it on purpose. The same went for the sofas. The table chairs, however…

The loo flushed upstairs and Harry stopped dead. Then he heard the tap open, some splashing, and the sounds of water stopped. A door opened upstairs, probably the bathroom door. But no sound of alarm. Ginny was well hidden. Harry shook his head and brought his thoughts back to his own problem.

The chairs were light, yet made of solid wood, and would make a lot of noise if they fell. Probably enough to make Melchior notice it from inside the kitchen.

He stood up from his crouched position against the wall and started to make his way towards the middle of the room. But he stopped when another thought came to him. How would he slip past Melchior afterwards? The man would probably come in through the kitchen and run straight into him. He would have to make the chair fall from afar. A rope would probably do it…

He shook his head for being so stupid, and he grabbed his wand. He briefly hesitated when he thought of the rules, but then he remembered his many adventures from when he was still at Hogwarts, most of them nocturnal, and his life at the Dursleys before that. When had rules ever mattered to him?

 _"Wingardium Leviosa,"_ he muttered, and one of the chairs rose from the ground and inched towards the ceiling. It was at that moment that he heard someone walking through the corridor upstairs, and then the creaking of the stairs. He quickly cancelled the spell. The chair fell to the floor and one of the legs snapped off, making just as much noise as Harry was hoping it would do.

He was as still and as silent as possible when the stairs creaked even louder now and seconds later, Sirius entered the room, scanning the room with a predatory gleam in his eyes.

Harry almost let out a loud curse when the door right next to him banged open and Melchior entered, his arms still wet and covered in soap. The two men nodded at each other and inched around the room without another word. Neither were looking at the corner where Harry had hidden himself, and that was the opening he needed. Hoping his clothes wouldn't make too much noise while he moved, he snuck into the kitchen.

When he was around the corner, out of view from the living room, he breathed out shakily. Now he had to find a way to get past the floor. It was made of wood, almost the same colour as the walls, but the texture was a bit smoother. He felt the seams, looked at some of the nails, and tested his weight on some of the boards. But he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. He would have to ask Ginny later if he hadn't imagined the sight before. Still, it wouldn't hurt to double-check, so he got on all fours again, this time also trying to put his nails between the seams. But whoever laid down the floor did a good job of it, because he couldn't fit them anywhere in between it.

He was so engrossed in his task that he didn't pay attention the sounds around him anymore. Not until it was too late. A strange feeling enveloped him and he was shocked to see that he wasn't invisible anymore. Moments later, his arms were held behind his back and a voice said in his ear: "got you."

Before he even had time to react he was free again, and he turned around to see his captor, Melchior, regarding him with something that looked like amusement in his eyes.

"You broke the rules," the man said.

"Who said I did?" Harry replied instantly. The corners of Melchior's mouth quivered. Sirius entered the kitchen behind him.

"You've got them?"

"Only Harry. I think they've split up."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of two people coming downstairs. They exited the kitchen and saw Selene cheerfully leading a scowling Ginny into the living room.

"Found her in Harry and Sirius' room," she said happily. "I think she slipped on a sock."

"Clean up your room," Ginny groused.

"Did you find it?" Harry asked her.

"No, of course not, Selene caught me. Did you find it?"

"No, Melchior caught me in the kitchen."

"Let's sit down, shall we?" Melchior suggested. He set the fallen chair back up, attached the broken leg again with a swish of his wand, and they all took place around the table. "Well then, tell me what you two did."

"We agreed to split up," Harry said, glancing at Ginny briefly. "First a _Homenium Revelio_ , then Ginny would go upstairs and I would search this floor."

"Nothing else planned beforehand?"

"No."

"That's alright. And what did you think of your performance?"

"We didn't find the cloak," Ginny said.

"True. Hang on, I'll grab it." Melchior stood up, walked to the coat rack beside the front door, and fished the silvery cloak out of the inner pocket of one of the coats. Harry groaned and Ginny shook her head.

"That's mean," she said.

Melchior dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "I told you that we would hide it anywhere, except in my room." He sat back down. "But back to the matter at hand, what would you have done differently?"

Harry and Ginny sat in silence for a while. Melchior waved his wand and a tray laden with teacups and a kettle flew in from the kitchen.

"The door creaked," Harry said. "If you didn't know we were coming, that sound would have alerted you."

"Good point," Melchior said as the kettle poured everyone a cup of tea. Two sugar cubes floated in the air and threw themselves into Selene's cup with a splash. "Again, it's a bit of a shame we knew you would be looking for the cloak. It's not as realistic as I would have hoped it would be. Anyway, never mind that for now. Anything else?" He asked Harry and Ginny.

"I didn't watch my step, and I slipped because of that," Ginny admitted. "I need to pay attention to that a bit more."

"Excellent idea. Harry?"

"I dunno?"

"Let me say something, then. I think you were too focused on whatever you were looking for in the kitchen. You didn't pay attention to your surroundings, and that allowed me to catch you unaware. If you hadn't split up, you could have told Ginny to watch your back while you were busy."

"That's an idea," Ginny said.

"What was that with the chair, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, erm, I needed Melchior out of the kitchen, so I…"

"Used magic to knock over a chair," Melchior finished for him. "I think we specifically said 'no magic other than those two charms at the beginning'."

"Sorry," Harry murmured demurely.

"Still," Melchior continued. "That was a good move. You were hiding in a corner when I came into the room, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"Very clever. Bonus points for that. Of course, I'll have to deduct them immediately because you broke the rules, but it's the thought that counts, after all."

"Why did you want to go into the kitchen so badly?" Sirius asked Harry.

"Well…" Harry paused, noting Melchior's displeased look with interest. "When Ginny cast _Homenium Revelio_ , I saw Melchior walking upstairs through the kitchen floor. Or something like that at least. I figured a hidden room would be the best place to hide something." He looked at their host, but he couldn't read his emotion. "Is there a hidden room there?"

"Well, I had to have come from somewhere if you two saw me coming upstairs, didn't I?" Melchior said, taking a sip of his tea. He seemed unfazed again, relaxed at first glance, but there was a strange look in his eyes that Harry couldn't quite place. It only piqued his curiosity even more.

"What's down there, then?" Ginny pressed.

"Nothing for you to worry about. Now, onto the next subject. I want you two to take this test more often, but we'll add more aspects to it. Breaking protections, more ways of sneaking around undetected, and I want you to start practicing taking down your enemies, too. Either through duelling or, much preferably, through hexing them behind their backs"

"I can teach you that!" Selene piped up hopefully.

"We'll see," Melchior said. He tucked a stray lock of greying hair behind his ear. "Well, class is dismissed either way. Harry, Ginny, tomorrow we'll start with a charm that muffles your footsteps and your breath and, depending on how much time we'll have left, some spells that will help you defend yourself. It's now..." he pulled back the sleeve of his jumper slightly and glanced at his golden watch, "five thirty. High time for me to start cooking supper."

"Meat and potatoes?" Selene asked.

"What else?" Melchior said. He ruffled Selene's hair and headed for the kitchen.

"D'you need some help?" Harry asked. Melchior turned around.

"No. But thank you for the offer, Harry. Perhaps you could help with breakfast tomorrow." With that, he turned around again and closed the door behind him.

"Nice try, Harry," Selene laughed. "A bit too obvious, though."

"Do _you_ know what's down there, then?" Ginny asked her.

Selene pursed her lips. "Just leave it be already. If Melchior wants it to remain hidden, it will remain hidden. Not much you can do about it."

"But-"

"Leave it!" Selene warned. She stood up abruptly and refused to meet anyone's eye as she marched around the table. "I'm going for a walk."

Harry, Ginny and Sirius said nothing as she put on her shoes and jacket. Her irritation was evident with every move she made. There was a wave of cold air when she opened the door and stepped out, but the room was silent again after she closed it behind her. Harry could faintly hear the sound of meat sizzling on a pan in the kitchen, but nothing more. No grinding noise of the floor making way for a secret stairwell, no footsteps, nothing.

Sirius cast a charm on the kitchen door and turned to Harry and Ginny.

"Right, I don't trust them at all," he said without preamble. "They're keeping a lot of secrets from us, and speaking as someone who's been lying to other people his whole life, there are all sorts of alarm bells going off here," he tapped his head.

"I agree," Ginny said. "I mean, Selene doesn't exist officially and now there's this secret basement or whatever else there is under the kitchen? It's all so strange!"

"But they saved us from the Ministry," Harry argued. "And now they've taken us in, and Melchior's training us. And we really need training now that we're away from school-"

"Oh, you're defending them, are you?" Ginny interrupted him venomously. "What, did Selene convince you during one of your little talks? Do you want her to give you a kiss, is that it?"

Harry and Sirius stared at her. Then Sirius chuckled.

"You don't like her, do you?" He asked kindly.

Ginny's angry expression faltered. "No, I… I don't. I don't even know why. She just... bothers me a lot, you know?"

"Is it the fact that she's a fan of the Gorgons?" Sirius asked.

Ginny blushed and looked away. "Well, maybe a bit," she muttered.

"What about that, then?" Harry asked, looking from one to the other. "You and Selene were really angry the first day about that. I mean, it's just a band, right?"

" _Just a band?_ Harry Potter, you are-" Ginny began, but Sirius put a hand on her shoulder.

"He grew up with Muggles, Ginny. He doesn't understand." He said calmly.

"I'm right here, you know?" Harry said. "Explain!"

"Well, the Gorgons and the Weird Sisters are both very famous magical bands. I don't know if they still are, but before I went to Azkaban, they were the two most famous bands in Britain."

"They still are," Ginny said.

"They regularly get compared in the newspapers and on the radio. Who sold the most records, who made the best albums, who were more talented, you know the deal."

"But the Weird Sisters are obviously the best," Ginny piped up.

"You're not helping, Ginny," Sirius said. "Anyway, the fans picked up on this rivalry and then it kind of blew up. You know, the odd fight here and there between groups of fans, rumours and slander all around about the two bands and their fans…"

"You can't be a fan of both," Ginny said with passion. "It's just not right. You're either a Gorgonian or a Weird Sister. You've got some people who say they like both, but they're not true fans. They're just casuals."

"Ah okay, so it's like with football, then?" Harry said enthusiastically. "Like, you've got Arsenal versus Tottenham, and then Manchester United and Liverpool…" He trailed off when he saw Sirius' and Ginny's blank looks. "Oh, right. It's a Muggle thing. Erm, it's a bit like rivalries in Quidditch, then."

"Yes, it's a bit like that!" Ginny said.

"Anyway, let's get back on track, shall we?" Sirius said. "What are we going to do about this? Because I don't really feel comfortable staying here."

"But where would we go, then? We don't even know where we are, we can't Apparate away from here, and then there's the Ministry and the fact that it's the middle of the winter, so there won't be any sunlight here until next week…"

"I know, Harry," Sirius said. "And that's the problem. The way I see it, we've got no choice other than to stay here, but I don't like that idea at all."

"But why not? They saved us from the Ministry. And you really need some care, Sirius. You were skin and bones until a few days ago, and that's putting it lightly."

"Ha! You're one to talk!" Sirius laughed, thumping Harry's shoulder. "If anyone's a skinny runt here, it'll be you!" But Harry and Ginny didn't share his mirth.

"Harry's right, Sirius, you really did look unhealthy," Ginny said.

Sirius looked from one child to the other. "Really? Oh, come on, I can be a dog for months on end! It wasn't _that_ bad, was it?"

Harry shook his head. "I still say we can't go without Melchior and Selene."

"And I agree with Harry," Ginny sighed. "Just look outside. We can't possibly just go out there with this weather, not to mention the fact that we're all on the run from as good as everyone now. We wouldn't make it on our own. I mean, I can't even write my own parents! They'll just think you two put a charm on me, or they'll try to find us through that letter and lead the Ministry to us. We're hopeless without Melchior and Selene."

Sirius stared at one of the small windows, but there was nothing to see but darkness and the occasional flake of snow drifting past.

"Alright," he said eventually. "We stay here until it gets warmer, and then we'll decide whether we want to stay or not."

"Fair enough," Harry said. Ginny voiced her agreement as well.

Harry and Sirius then started a game of chess to pass time (the sets weren't magical, sadly) and Ginny watched the game, occasionally making a remark about their lack of skill, or groaning when either made a move that was apparently not good enough in her eyes. Not that she was much better than them, Harry liked to think.

Selene came back for dinner just in time. She was covered in snow and looked more like a yeti than a human being, but sitting by the fire for a couple of minutes helped a lot. Melchior complimented Sirius' silencing charm at the start of dinner, but other than that, no one mentioned the previous tension.

"So your parents were Muggles?" Sirius asked. Melchior hadn't told much more about himself since the first night, and Harry found himself curious about the man's past as well.

"They were," Melchior answered. He swallowed a mouthful of fish before continuing. "And strictly religious too, so you can only imagine the shock when my Hogwarts letter arrived and I turned out to be a wizard. In fact, my dad was just as unnerved as your uncle and aunt were, Harry, if what you told is true."

Harry resisted demanding how he knew that.

"But eventually, Dumbledore came to our farm, did some magic, and then explained a bit about the Wizarding World. My parents were still quite unhappy with me vanishing to a secret castle up north in Scotland, but at least they let me go." He took another bite and took his time before resuming the story. "Sorry. Anyway, when I got there, I was sorted into Slytherin. Quite strange, isn't it? A Muggle-Born in Slytherin?"

"But I thought Salazar Slytherin forbade Muggle-Borns from entering his house?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, he certainly wanted to, but he couldn't. You all know he left Hogwarts due to differing opinions with the other founders, don't you?" Harry, Ginny and Sirius nodded. "Well, it's probably a good thing he did. He had all sorts of plans for the school: prohibiting Muggle-Borns from attending, teaching Dark Arts, making some very racist views on blood purity a mandatory part of curriculum, and so on. But the other founders didn't like his plans, and he left. And in the end it made it possible for me to enter Slytherin House."

"Didn't you have a lot of trouble with your Housemates, then? Didn't they pick on you because of your heritage?" Harry asked, thinking back to his own experience with Slytherin House.

"No, they didn't," Melchior replied. "It wasn't really that bad in the end. You'll have to understand that the extreme hostility between Slytherin and the rest of the school only really worsened during the war against Voldemort, when most Death Eaters were ex-Slytherins. So me being a Muggle-Born in Slytherin, well, it wasn't pleasant at first, but I when It became clear that I was more cunning and ambitious than most of my pureblood Housemates, I became an accepted member. Of course, Slughorn being my head of house made it very easy for me. I rather impressed him during potions and received high grades, and that was enough for him to notice me and invite me to his private club."

"Who's Horace Slughorn?" Ginny asked.

"Oh right, he isn't the Potions Professor anymore now, is he?" Melchior said. "Well, Horace Slughorn was the Potions Professor and Slytherin's head of house. Can't imagine anyone better suited for that position, to be honest. He loved connections, you see. In all the time that he was a teacher at Hogwarts, and he was there for a very long time, he always made connections between everyone he could lay his hands on.

He had a sort of club of his favourite students, called the Slug Club, and he would do everything to get in the good books of his favourites. For example, when they graduated from Hogwarts, he would pull some favours make sure they landed all the good jobs: a high position at the Daily Prophet, a place right near the director of one of the many magical manufacturing companies, that one highly contested place in the Ministry, sometimes even good jobs abroad too. And he could do that because he had connections. Knew almost every important Witch or Wizard in Britain."

"It was a very good system," Sirius took over. "Everyone who landed good jobs because of him would be very thankful, of course. Slughorn then invited them to his social gatherings, where a new generation of students were introduced to the well-off ones of the previous generations. And those ex-students couldn't refuse attending such a party, could they? Not when Slughorn was so instrumental in setting up their successful lives. And Slughorn himself loved it, too. I was at two of those gatherings, and both times he bumbled around there with the biggest grin on his face. I swear he gets off on those parties."

"Sounds creepy," Ginny shuddered.

"Well, maybe it was a little creepy," Melchior acknowledged. "But it was very useful at the same time, so I never really minded that much. It really benefited me during my school career. Even more so later on in my life, but that's a story for another time."

"Your mother was quite a favourite of Slughorn, by the way, Harry," Sirius said.

"Really?" Harry asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Yeah, really! He was always impressed with her talent for potions, and her being a Muggle-Born only increased his appreciation of her. Said he didn't think Muggle-Borns could even be so talented."

"That sounds…" Ginny began.

"Incredibly racist?" Sirius finished for her. "It was. But at least he didn't hate her."

"He actually said the same to me," Melchior said. "I knew better than to comment on it, because it was actually quite insulting, but I think me being a Muggle-Born was one of the big reasons why he took to me so much. Ironic, isn't it?"

"You're much like Lily in that sense, then," Sirius said amusedly. "Both talented potion-brewing Muggle-Born favourites of Slughorn."

"Oh, none of that, now. Are you really comparing a beautiful, kind woman to a cranky old hunchback like me?"

"Well, you have about the same eyes," Sirius remarked, grinning.

"Stop it, man, you'll melt my heart," Melchior said. He almost smiled.

"You knew my mum, then?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Oh, I did. And we have Slughorn to thank for that too, obviously. I often went to his parties at Hogwarts during the last war, and I occasionally talked to her there. Of course, after she graduated she went into the Order of the Phoenix, and I never saw her again after that. But we were good associates, I'd say." Sirius still looked quite bothered by Melchior knowing about Dumbledore's secret society, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Has everyone eaten enough?" Melchior asked the others then. "Harry, some more fish, maybe?"

"No, thanks, I've had enough," Harry said. He leaned back in his chair, feeling like something was bothering him. He didn't quite know what it was, though.

With mixed feelings, he watched the dishes rapidly collect themselves. He was surprised and curious about how Melchior knew his mother, but at the same time, now that he was away from Hogwarts, he felt further away from his parents than before. By going to Hogwarts, he felt like he was sharing things with them somehow: the same building, the same teachers, the same school. That feeling had only reinforced itself during the Christmas Holidays of his first year when he saw them in the Mirror of Erised.

Just when he had felt more lonely than he'd ever felt before, with his classmates ridiculing him or whispering behind his back, they were there for him. Sneaking off under his invisibility cloak in his pyjamas and then sleeping in front of the mirror under the serene gaze of his parents was still something he regularly revisited in his mind. He liked thinking of it. It gave him a strange, yet comforting feeling. Not only was that the only time when he'd seen his parents other than on pictures, and was it one of the precious few times when he could go to sleep without having to bear taunt after taunt from his dorm mates, it was also the very first of many nightly adventures Harry would be having inside the castle.

But when he dug through his backpack in his and Sirius' bedroom later that evening, in search for the photo album full of pictures of his parents that Hagrid had given him just after the incident with Quirrell in his first year, he realised what caused that nagging feeling he'd had all night.

"Hey," Sirius said as he came into their room. "I'm going to make it an early night. Do you need to use the bathroom?"

"No, that's alright," Harry replied as cheerfully as he could.

"Something wrong, Harry?"

Harry sighed and looked up from his backpack. "It's the photo album of my parents," he said. "It was in my trunk when we left. I've lost it."

Sirius' look softened. He sat down on his bed and patted the mattress beside him. Harry understood the hint and sat down beside his godfather.

"Did the conversation during dinner remind you of them?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah."

Both sat in silence for a while, Harry staring at his bed across the room.

"Did I ever tell you about when your father made it to the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" Sirius asked then.

"No?"

"Ah, now that's a story you need to hear." Sirius grinned at him. "It was the start of our third year and one of the previous chasers, I believe he was called Higsby, had graduated. James had always been a good flier, so he decided to try out. It was a heavily contested spot, since the team hadn't changed members for five years in a row, and there were loads of other students eager to finally make it to the team.

James won it in the end, though. And that's where the difference between him and you comes into play, Harry. You should have seen him that year! He flaunted and boasted like his life depended on it. The girls loved it, too. If he hadn't been head over heels for Lily already he would have had no trouble whatsoever on that front." Sirius nudged him in the shoulder. "But that's where you two are alike again, aren't you?"

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked, looking up at him.

"What do I mean? _What do I mean?_ Have you or have you not snogged Daphne Greengrass only two weeks ago?"

"I have." Was it really only two weeks ago?

"Well there you go then, you stud! Anyway, the most important reason James boasted so much was because of Lily. He thought that if he only ruffled his hair enough, told her of his successes with Quidditch enough, or winked often enough at her, she would eventually succumb to his charms. During our fourth year he even tried making puppy-eyes at her! I hope I don't have to tell you that that won't work at all, and you should never, ever, try it?"

"Why would I do that? I've already got a girlfriend," Harry said, confused.

"That's true. Well, never mind that for now, then. Good answer, by the way, and I'll be keeping you to that. I ever see you trying to pull such tricks I'll deck you, alright? To get back to our story: the first match James ever played was against Slytherin, of course. He would never admit it to anyone, but it was plain to see he was incredibly nervous. Didn't eat that morning, didn't even talk, which was something very rare, and at the start of the game it looked like he'd never rode a broom before. The entire Slytherin house booing him and laughing at him didn't help, of course."

"That's the whole point of it," Harry argued. "It's just a way of unnerving your opponents." He didn't know why he felt the need to defend his former House.

"Of course it is! Everyone does it, it's a bog-standard sports thing. Luckily, James eventually remembered how to fly and he did alright in the end. Scored four goals. And before you ask me why I remember that so well: it's kind of hard to forget if James himself never stops talking about it every time Lily was nearby. Not that she cared much for it, but that didn't deter him."

"Was he really that good at Quidditch?" Harry asked.

"He was. He wasn't the best of the best by any means, but he was good nonetheless. Stayed a chaser until he graduated too, despite some heavy competition." He nudged Harry's shoulder. "It's a shame you never tried out for Slytherin, Harry. I think you'd be a fine chaser too. Or maybe a seeker."

"I would never be accepted to the team," Harry said. "Besides, why would I play for the same House that bullied me? Why would I play for the house that has Snape at its head?"

Sirius shuddered. "Snape, Head of House… You're right, Harry. But it's still a shame."

Remembering the jealousy and envy he felt when watching Quidditch matches from the stands, he agreed with Sirius.

Right before he fell asleep that night, he still felt content from the story Sirius had told him. As was his and Ginny's way of saying goodnight for a couple of nights now, he softly rapped the wall that separated them. A few moments later he heard Ginny do the same from her side. Smiling, he turned around, pulled in his legs and curled up into a ball.

He fell asleep almost instantly.


	7. Chapter 7: Groundwork

It was now a few weeks after Harry, Ginny and Sirius arrived here, and things now started to settle into a rhythm. The perpetual smell of smoke, fire, wood and leather quietly faded into the background, and Harry tentatively became used to the incredibly short days and very long nights. At least the sun came up now. Melchior handled the household with a strict schedule, which meant that their days all looked roughly the same: breakfast at eight, classes started at nine thirty and lasted well into the afternoon, dinner at six in the evening, and Harry and Ginny went to bed at around ten.

After Melchior was satisfied with Harry and Ginny's ability to cast and use the disillusionment charm, he started teaching them ways of attacking people behind their backs without causing alarm. While some spells took a while for them to master, they generally breezed through the lessons the hunched man taught them with ease.

Both Harry and Ginny were very used to sneaking around, Ginny by stealing her brothers' brooms at night to go flying, and Harry because of his nightly trips through Hogwarts. This helped them pick up Melchior's methods rather quickly.

Sirius looked progressively healthier. His teeth lost their black and yellow colours and grew straight again, his hair, which was a mess when they arrived here, was beyond saving and one day Melchior found it enough. He took Sirius into the bathroom one morning, and when they emerged from it again Sirius had lost most of his hair. Harry found it a strange sight, seeing his godfather with crew cut hair, but after little more than a week it was almost as long as it used to be on the pictures in Harry's old photo album.

"Hair of witches and wizards grows a lot quicker if you want it to," Sirius explained when Harry asked him about it.

"I've noticed," Harry said, remembering that time when he was five. His aunt, frustrated with Harry's mess of hair, simply shaved everything off except for his fringe, to hide his scar. Not that it helped much. The next day it had all grown back as if nothing had ever happened to it.

Selene was persistent in taking Harry, Ginny, and Sirius out of the house regularly. After they had seen all the sights in the immediate vicinity of the house, including panorama of the surrounding mountaintops that could only be reached by climbing up a steep hill that was slippery from all the snow, she started teaching them some useful things here and there. One of them was fishing.

"No wands," she'd said to them sternly. "If you lose your wand one day and don't know how to gather food, you're fucked." It quickly became clear that Selene was fairly cheerful and kind most of the time, yet swore colourfully all the same. Her favourite word was 'fuck', and she used that in any shape or form available.

Harry still didn't quite understand her. She could be very cheerful and light-hearted one moment and get incredibly angry the next, especially when Melchior ordered her to do something. And then there was the awkward conversation she and Harry had about Ginny.

Still, Ginny slowly warmed up to the girl. He noticed their friendship the first time when he tried entering their room one day. He was met by loud music and two _very_ irate girls shouting at him to get out. Harry was amazed at the united front they made.

Melchior continued talking about himself during and after dinner, but he progressed at an almost agonizingly slow pace, going over as much details as he could. Harry couldn't bring himself to care about how Melchior's father sent angry letters at the local government of Norwich or the things he used to do when he was a Prefect or Head Boy at Hogwarts, and he was relieved when the man finally finished talking about his school career after a week or two. Especially Sirius was quite vocal in questioning why exactly Melchior spent so much time telling them about extraneous details. Melchior himself didn't seem bothered at all with his guests' impatience.

"What's the hurry?" He'd said, leaning back in chair as much as his crooked back allowed. "I was serious when I told you to learn to have patience, Sirius. We have all the time we need. We'll get there eventually, don't you worry."

Harry gradually found his stress ebbing away. Everything seemed very far away in their house. The ministry, Hogwarts, Voldemort, Daphne… Everything slipped into the background almost unnoticed and Harry gradually stopped feeling like an outcast, and more like he was supposed to feel: like a thirteen year old boy. Everything went so smoothly and Melchior's relaxed attitude was so infectious that he never had the chance to think about the hardships that lay ahead, and he never considered the fact that this would all end soon.

* * *

"All right," Melchior said during breakfast a few weeks into January. "I think we've had enough lessons indoors. What do you say about an excursion?"

"Where to?" Sirius asked, eying the window. Harry, who felt toasty warm and still a bit tired so early in the morning, didn't feel much for going outside either. The sun wasn't up yet. There wasn't even a glow of dawn to be seen.

"A couple of places. It's all in the name of education of course, but I wanted to show you the protections around the house, and the way you arrived here as well. You were curious about that, were you not?"

"Yes, we were," Sirius said, now sounding a lot more enthusiastic. Harry wasn't.

"Excellent, well, Ginny, Harry, finish your breakfast and we'll head out."

A while later Melchior led Sirius, Selene, Ginny and Harry into the forest behind the house. It was completely silent outside, and a pale, ghostly moon shone through the clouds, illuminating the snowy forest and making Ginny's red hair look like wildfire in the night. Harry was cold, but grateful that it wasn't snowing for once.

"…six, seven, eight… two to the right, and…" Melchior pointed his wand to the floor right in front of him. A small circle of snow melted, and when Harry peeked closer he could see the forest floor rumbling and cracking open. A fist-sized stone suddenly shot from the soil of leaves, needles, branches and dirt, and landed in Melchior's waiting hand.

"You actually did it in one," Selene remarked. She turned to Harry, Ginny and Sirius. "Last time he was out here for fifteen minutes trying to remember where he left it," she said to them in a staged whisper.

Melchior showed no clear reaction. He brushed his greying black hair out of his face and held out the thing he was holding to the others. It was a large, blood-red stone, only slightly opaque, and it had thick, ugly scratches everywhere on the surface. It had no particular shape, either.

"This here is almandine," he said. 'It's a type of garnet, which is a collective name for a lot of types of minerals. And this stone here is the very reason why our house is so safe."

"It's a ward stone?" Sirius asked in a surprised tone.

"Yes, you could call it that," Melchior replied.

"What's a ward stone?" Harry asked.

"A good question, Harry," Melchior said. "What do you remember from our lessons on protections and wards?"

Harry took a moment to recall what he learned about it last week. "Wards protect a place from the outside. And then you've got a lot of different types of them."

"Simple and incomplete, but to the point, yes. The wards I showed you during those lessons were cast by me, but without any object to tie them to that specific place, or even this world, which makes them rather vulnerable and very finite in nature. That is where these things come into play," Melchior said. He handed the stone to Sirius, who held it close to his eye for inspection.

"You can see that it hasn't got a definite shape, nor any recognizable patterns on the outside. Can any of you tell me why that is a desirable trait of a ward stone?"

No one answered. Sirius handed the stone to Ginny for her to inspect.

"No one?" Melchior asked.

"It's sturdier that way," Sirius said then.

"Very good. Got any experience with ward stones then, Sirius?"

"A bit. My father taught me and Regulus a bit of family magic when we were younger, but I don't remember much of it."

"Interesting. Your brother became a Death Eater later in his life, did he not?" Melchior asked. Harry tore his gaze from the stone and looked up at Sirius in surprise. He hadn't told him this yet, and he seemed quite uncomfortable now. But that could also be because of the cold.

"Yes, he did. Never heard of him again after he left Hogwarts," Sirius said.

Melchior nodded. "Well, your answer was correct. Stones that have structural deformation, or simply called cleavage…" Harry and Sirius sniggered. "…tend to do a poor job of protecting you. On top of that, any faults, weaknesses and fractures show in the wards too. So when a curse breaker comes along, maybe accompanied by a group of Death Eaters, they merely have to detect those faults in the wards and split it right open along them. Not good. And that's why this stone is so good. Yes, it does have scratches, but they're only on the surface. There are no seams in the wards, no weaknesses for the enemy to take advantage of."

"Why are there so many scratches on the surface, then?" Harry asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

"Part of it is because it isn't refined. I find unrefined minerals a lot more pleasant to work with, you see. It's more powerful that way, more intuitive, I think."

"And…?" Sirius asked.

"Well, there have been a couple of attacks on this place. The war wasn't over when we first started living in here, and I was quite the target. Any attacks on the wards imprint themselves on the stone itself, you see. To the outside world, the area you've warded is embedded within the stone itself. That's also..." He trailed off when he saw that Harry, Ginny and Sirius were staring at him wide-eyed.

"Just how secure is this house again?" Sirius demanded.

"Oh, more than secure enough. They never succeeded in entering, and the attacks stopped after Voldemort disappeared. Don't worry about it." Seeing no change in their expressions, Melchior continued. "Look, the protections are _fine_. More than that, even. We're far away from civilization and only a handful of Death Eaters know about this place, and they haven't been active for over twelve years now. No official institutions know this address either, so don't expect any Aurors or tax collectors to show up either. You're safe here."

"But-" Harry began.

"I'm quite good with silencing charms. Don't make me use them," Melchior warned. Harry closed his mouth immediately.

"So how can you transfer magic onto the stone, then?" Sirius asked then, probably seeing the futility of pressing Melchior. "I've never really understood that part."

Melchior accepted the stone back from Harry before he answered.

"That's the interesting part of it. I'll explain a bit more about that when we're done with our little excursion later, alright?" He buried the stone again, and with a few subtle swipes of the wand, there was no trace of it anymore. It was like he'd never dug into the snow at all. As they walked away from there, Harry noticed that their footsteps disappeared behind them too. Only a person who knew where to look might be able find the ward stone, and even then it would be hard.

He looked in front of him again, but tripped and fell over a rock hidden beneath the snow.

"Mind the cleavage, Harry," Sirius laughed as he helped Harry up again.

"Everyone in the car," Melchior ordered after Harry had dusted the snow off his clothes.

"Can I drive?" Selene asked cheerfully.

"Not downhill. Perhaps on the way back." Selene pouted, but didn't protest as she got into the passenger seat.

Melchior put his backpack in the trunk while Harry, Ginny, and Sirius slid into the back seats.

"Is there an enlargement charm on the car?" Ginny asked.

"No, there isn't. This is a Range Rover, Ginny. We don't need one on this bad boy," Selene said from the passenger seat, tapping the dashboard fondly.

"Oh, really? Dad had a Ford Anglia, and he charmed the stuffing out of that. It had an enlargement charm, an invisibility button, it could fly…"

"Really?" Selene said as Melchior turned the key and the engine roared to life. "We've only got some anti-slip charms on this one, you know. But that was only because it wouldn't get up the hills here without them. It might be a good idea to make it fly, too. Gives you a bit of security when you slip off the road and fall into the ravine, doesn't it?" At that precise moment they went around a corner, and Harry gripped his arm rest tightly.

"So what kind of car is this then? What's a range rover?" Ginny asked.

"It's a Range Rover 3.9 with a V8 engine. Range Rover is just the name of the car. Do you know what a V8 engine is?" Selene asked. Ginny shook her head. "It's a kind of engine that has a V-shape. You've got the one crank pin which makes the pistons move, but instead of a normal engine, this crankshaft handles both the ends of the piston in the V-shape, and…" the two girls continued talking about the car, and Harry trailed off. He found himself staring out of the window more and more the longer he sat there, trying to ignore how close together he and Ginny were sitting. It was still dark outside, but a grey glow over the mountains ahead of them showed that the sun would soon come out from behind cover.

But for now they were here, driving along the ridges of the steep ravine. The sharp, jagged, enormous mountains surrounded them on all sides, silent but omnipresent. The roaring of their large car and the crunching of the snow under the tires were probably the only things breaking the silence of this place.

Melchior told them of a small rural village nearby, and Harry wondered where it was, because the ravine and valley below looked devoid of any human life. The road they were on only had a couple of faded tracks, probably from the first time they arrived here.

"Not a fan of cars, Harry?" Ginny asked then.

"What?" Harry blinked and tore his gaze away from the window. "Oh, erm, I don't really know much about how they work. Uncle Vernon never really let me near his car, other than to clean it for him. And we don't really discuss cars in Hogwarts, do we?"

Ginny and Sirius looked at him in anger, and Harry wondered whether he'd said something wrong.

"How often did he have you clean the car, then?" Ginny asked.

"Erm, depends. Once or twice a week, sometimes more, you know, when they gritted the roads in the winter. Then I had to scrub off all the salt. That was a right chore, actually."

"And you had to do it all by yourself?" Ginny pressed on.

"Well, yeah. Dudley wasn't going to do it, was he? Why do you ask?"

"Bastards," Sirius growled beside Ginny. "Harry, if there's one good thing that happened because of us being on the run, it's that you don't have to go back to them anymore. Why you were left there in the first place, I will never understand."

"Blood protection," Melchior answered for Harry. "And it was important too. You know what happened to the Longbottoms after the war had ended, don't you?"

"Yes, but was it worth having Harry grow up in that... in an environment like that?" Sirius challenged.

"Oh no, definitely not," Melchior said calmly. "There are loads more ways of protecting a house, as we've just seen. Those blood protections were good, but not unique in their kind. But Sirius is right, Harry, you probably won't go back there anymore. When the ministry made you an outlaw you were also evicted from any place of residence you had, and, if the protections of your aunt and uncle's house is anything like the protections I know, they were cancelled at that precise moment as well."

"Really?" Harry asked. He hadn't thought of this summer yet, but the prospect of not having to go back to his aunt and uncle made him happier than he'd been the past few weeks.

"I'm fairly certain. Anyway, we're almost here," Melchior said. Moments later he turned the wheel to the right, and they went off the so-called road into another deformed, almost invisible trail of tires.

"Long live anti-slip charms," Selene remarked as they went down a particularly steep hill. They stopped at the bottom and Melchior ordered them out of the car.

Harry looked around while their host grabbed his backpack from the boot. The grey sky he saw earlier had shifted into a red-orange glow. The sun was probably already up, but that was only behind the mountains. Not here.

The forest they were in consisted of many evergreens, the smaller ones, groaning under the weight of the snow, stood as crooked as Melchior walked, and everything as always was basked in that perpetual strange, blueish light.

"Follow me, everyone. It's still a short walk from here on," Melchior said. He shuffled ahead of them in a surprisingly fast tempo.

The trip was indeed short, but Harry still wondered how Selene managed to get their unconscious forms into the car when they arrived a few weeks before.

"Well, here we are. Gather round!" Melchior said then. Harry caught up with the others and stepped from behind Sirius to see where they were.

It was a small clearing in the forest, just as covered in snow as the rest of the world was, and bordered irregularly by leafless trees and some evergreens. In the middle of the clearing was a rock, barely visible above the snow.

Harry thought the place oddly silent. During their walk here, he'd heard the wind blowing through the trees and other more distant sounds coming from the mountains. Here, though, he heard nothing but the snow crunching under their boots, his own breath, and blood rushing in his ears. It felt strange here, like there was a lot more pressure on his ears than usual. He felt the hairs of his neck stand up.

Melchior swished his wand a few times and the snow around the rock melted away, exposing the boulder completely. There were faint red markings on it, and Harry could make out a strange semi-circle, surrounded by a mass of intricate lines, drawings, and runes from ancient times.

"Does everyone see it properly? Good! Let's call this a rune stone for now," he said. The enthusiasm in his voice was noticeable. "You'll find these things scattered around Scandinavia and in the places where the Normans used to emigrate and travel to, like Britain, Germany and islands in the northern Atlantic, like the Faeroe Islands. Even Greenland has one.

This one here is about 900 years old. Does anyone know what was going on in Scandinavia around the turning of the millennium?" He asked the others. No one said anything. "No one? Alright: conversion to Christianity. Before 900 AD, Scandinavia, and especially areas further north and less reachable, like this place for example, were still very much pagan, you know, with Thor, Odin and Loki-"

"Oh yeah, Norse mythology!" Harry said brightly, recalling several history lessons when he still lived with the Dursleys.

"Exactly. We'll skip the details. Christianity slowly spread, and with it came new traditions, but others remained.

The rune stones are part of a tradition that preceded the coming of Christianity. They think it started around the 4th of 5th century, but you never know with that. Those same historians think magic doesn't exist, so who knows what else they're wrong about? Anyway, most rune stones are simply a memorial to someone who died. They had a fancy text slapped on, a rhyme to remember the deceased, and that was it. Sounds fairly straightforward, doesn't it?"

"Yes," came the chorused reply.

"And that's where this mystery comes in. You see, most, if not all rune stones can be found much, much further south. About 800 kilometres away from here in fact. And now we get to the core of our mystery: what's a rune stone doing here, in the middle of an area that has been only inhabited by Sami people? And they definitely don't make rune stones by the way, nor did they ever use a runic script like you can just about make out on this boulder."

"Maybe someone dragged it here?" Sirius suggested.

"You'd think so, but no. First of all, that would mean that someone dragged a very large piece of granite hundreds and hundreds of miles north, over mountains, through forests and across rivers. Not likely. And if you try and reach the sea from here, you'll find that that's quite impossible too. Too many cliffs and steep ravines in the way, you see?

No, but the most important indication that this rock has always been here is the fact that it's part of the ground here. I was intrigued by the stone when I first saw it about fifteen years ago, and I wanted to know more about it. So I took a few chips off it, you can still see the effects of it here and here, and I examined it. That's how I found out it's got exactly the same composition as the surrounding rocks. Now, can anyone tell me how I know that?"

"You're a wizard?" Sirius suggested.

"Most of the continents are made of granite," Melchior continued, ignoring Sirius completely. "Don't bother asking why that is for now. But granite isn't a pure element like oxygen, carbon or silicon is. It's mainly made of quartz and feldspar."

"What's feldspar?" Harry asked.

"Erm," Melchior said. He ran a hand over his worn face. "How do I explain that? Let's say it's a collection of different materials. Does that explain it enough to you?"

"Not really."

Melchior sighed. "It doesn't really matter, anyway. Let's continue. There are tons of little variables that make up the composition of the rock, but they don't really matter either. Point is, every area has its unique type of granite, and this makes finding out the origin of rocks much easier. This one, for example," he patted the rock fondly, "has exactly the same composition as the others around here. And if you dig around, you'll find that it's quite stuck to the ground, as well."

"So what does that mean?" Ginny asked.

"That means, Ginny, that this is not a rune stone. You'd think it is, with all the decorations and runic symbols, and I was convinced it wasn't anything special for a very long time. But no. This is nothing more than an odd piece of the continental plate underneath us, sticking out above the forest floor a bit. Then, at some point in history, some Norse traveller came along, saw it, and decided to paint on it."

"Why did he draw this, then?" Harry asked. He noticed Melchior getting more and more excited. It was certainly different from the impassive look he had most of the time.

"That's the question! At first, I thought it was just something that every man has done in history: a drawing, a way to express yourself and leave your mark here. After all, you have all those cave and rock drawings all over the world, right? And who knows how much art has been made with less durable materials? How much art has been lost due to other men?" The man took a moment to catch his breath before he continued. "At first glance, this is just a piece of art, made by possibly a Viking. But it's more than that. Look at the art, here, step closer…" Harry, Ginny and Sirius did as they were told, but Selene hung back a bit. She must have already heard the story before.

Harry looked at the intricate drawings, trying to make sense of it, but he was mostly unsuccessful. He saw a semi-circle made out of connected squares, each one containing a different rune. Harry, with his four months experience of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts, reckoned he would probably recognize a lot of them, but only with his Handbook of Ancient Runes at hand. And that book was still in his trunk at Hogwarts.

Surrounding and partially overlapping the semi-circle were an incredible amount of thin red lines, snaking around, under, and through each other. Sometimes he thought he saw a figure in it, like a sea snake he remembered seeing on old treasure maps, but then it was gone again. He tried following one specific line, but that left him rather dizzy and thinking that everything around that line was moving.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Melchior said from beside them, still sounding excited. "Tell me what you see."

"I see snakes and ladders," Sirius said.

"That's one way of looking at it," Melchior said. He sounded rather disappointed. Probably because Sirius didn't seem to take it as seriously as he did.

"What the fuck?" Ginny said from beside Harry. No one berated her for her language. "Is it just me, or do these lines move?"

"I thought so too," Harry said.

"Yes, it's quite the piece of art," Melchior said. "It's almost like a Jackson Pollock in that sense. Only this artist probably had a big bushy beard and a sword. But go on, kids, tell me what you see."

"It's making me quite dizzy," Harry noted. "But sometimes I think I see one of those sea-snakes."

"Yeah, that, or ivy. What does it mean?" Ginny asked.

"You lot do know how to ask the right questions, do you?" Melchior said. "Selene, if only you were as interested as they are when I taught you all this!"

Selene snorted. "I was eleven at the time, and you'd just given me my first wand. I didn't care about any of this at the time."

"Yes, as I recall correctly, you much rather wanted to blow everything up, didn't you?" Melchior said amusedly. "But back to Ginny's question. To answer it, we have to know what exactly this rock is. You see, this rock is the reason Selene could bring you here covertly and without too much trouble all the way from France."

"Is it like a Portkey, then?" Sirius asked, now sounding much more interested.

"The effect is roughly the same, but no, it doesn't. It's far more interesting than that. Let me explain: how do you travel with portkey?"

"You create a one-off connection between two places. It's sort of like bending time and space, right?" Sirius said, and Harry was again reminded that the man knew far more about magic than he did, even though he spent twelve years in Azkaban.

"Correct!" Melchior almost shouted. "Correct, and that is where it is different from this. Here you literally travel via the earth's crust."

"The what?" Ginny said.

"Never learned geography, then? Really, the curriculum of a wizard is so lacking in some areas, it's almost criminal!" Melchior said. He shook his head. "The earth is a globe, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do! I'm not an idiot!" Ginny scoffed.

"Good. There's something called the Flat-Earth Movement that's quite popular with a lot of wizards and I'm glad you don't believe in that. It's complete bullshit. Anyway, the earth is very heavy, and consists of a couple of layers. We are currently standing on the outermost solid layer, named the crust. Think of it like the peel of an apple. Then underneath that is a very thick layer of molten rock, called the Mantle. And in the centre of the earth is a solid core of iron, called the core. Clear?" Ginny nodded. "Good, now, back to this boulder, and traveling along the crust. Bearing in mind that it's largely made of granite, at least this part anyway, that's quite remarkable-"

"And bending time and space with an old boot isn't?" Sirius mumbled.

"- and I don't know how it works either. I've never heard of it before, anyway, and I've read a lot of books in my time."

"So when Selene brought us here, she just… activated something? Willed it to

happen?" Harry asked.

"Yes, it's a bit of both, actually. Here," Melchior fished something out of his pocket and threw it at Harry. He caught it, and when he examined it, he realized that it was just a simple stone.

"Yes, it's a stone," Melchior said. "It came from this boulder here, in fact. I did some testing when I first discovered it and came to the conclusion that if you're holding this in your hand, you quite simply wish yourself here, and it happens. You have to be careful not to be within any other magical protections, though."

"But why not just use a Portkey, then?" Sirius asked.

"Couple of reasons. I think the most important one is that it's untraceable, and that's a definite advantage over Portkeys."

"How does all this work, then?" Harry asked.

"I don't know! I wish I could tell you, but this is so different, so unique…" He shook his head. "Time for a demonstration, I think. Harry, walk away from this place and then try coming back, using your stone."

"How far do I need to walk away?"

"Just stay in sight, so that you can still see the Rock. I think that makes it a bit easier if you haven't got any experience yet."

Harry followed their footsteps towards the edge of the clearing and then turned around. He looked at the piece of stone in his hand and then at the boulder in the distance. He saw the others looking back at him.

Then, without warning, a feeling of being sucked down a drain overwhelmed him. His

shoes pulled at his feet, his pants threatened to be pulled off and he felt himself being stretched and squeezed in a bizarre way. It was over only a moment later, and he found himself standing next to the others, blinking his eyes rapidly and clutching the stone in his hand.

"Wow," he said.

The sun had long come up by the time Sirius and Ginny tried it out as well, and Harry started feeling quite hungry by the time Melchior called it a day. But, if Harry was being honest with himself, there were hardly times when he _wasn't_ hungry lately.

"You _promised!_ " Selene whined on the way back to the car. She and Melchior walked ahead of Harry, Ginny and Sirius, and they appeared to be in a heated debate. It was a comical sight. Melchior, however crooked, was still much taller than Selene, and his hair swayed around his head as he dragged himself through the snow.

"I didn't. I said _maybe_ you could drive on the way back. _Maybe_ , Selene."

"Well, you can still promise now," she said, pouting at Melchior.

A couple of minutes later, a grinning Selene enthusiastically directed the car up the snowy hill.

"You're going to be the death of me," Melchior said from the passenger seat as they reached the top of the hill. The engine bucked and roared and Harry found himself pressed rather snugly against Ginny as they took a sharp left turn.

"You moan too much," Selene said. "Besides, once we learn how to make this thing fly, we'll have nothing to worry about anymore."

"But until then…"

"Just close your eyes and pretend it's fun."


	8. Chapter 8: The Pupil

That evening, Melchior told a bit more about himself, as he did so often during supper. He started with the confrontation between him and his parents after he'd graduated and returned from Hogwarts.

"They wanted me to help them on the farm, but I didn't want that, of course. I just turned eighteen at the time and I was confident, distant from my parents after all those years of growing up away from them, and I was ready to see the world. It was foolish of them to think I would stay there and work for them."

The second week of the summer holidays, he packed a few of his belongings and took a ferry to Rotterdam. After staying there a couple of weeks, unsuccessfully trying to find some of his old friends from before he moved to England, he'd had enough and moved on from the city and into the rest of Europe.

It was a long, hot, and serene summer evening when he met a girl in Naples, named Caterina Guistina Sasserath. It was love at first sight, and Melchior spoke wistfully of many lazy afternoons spent chasing each other through the narrow, paved alleys of the city, stealing kisses as they fell in love under the Mediterranean sun. Then, one day, she invited him to her home, and Melchior told them he'd never been as shocked as when he entered that palace of a house.

Her widower father, Sig. Sasserath, was the proud, insanely rich inventor of the safety pin, and utterly devoted to his only daughter.

"Now don't think she was a stupid little brat who loved horses," Melchior said to his audience. "She was sly, let me tell you. Knew exactly what she wanted and how to achieve it, be it by making calf-eyes at her father, or bribing and threatening that shopkeeper into silence when he'd caught us behind his shop with my face between her legs. I've never met a stronger will than hers."

They spent the remainder of the summer at Sig. Sasserath's house and in Naples, and when the children in the city had to return to school, Melchior and Caterina decided to travel the world.

Happily funded by Sig. Sasserath, who was nonetheless sad to be all alone in his house after Caterina and Melchior left, they took a ferry along the Mediterranean. They eventually got off in Morocco and started making plans to travel to South Africa there.

"In the end, we travelled for about seven blissful years, and we've visited a list of places that would have made Ibn Battuta proud. We married in Ceylon in 1962 and spent our honeymoon on Bali, before heading back to Yemen to travel through Arabia." He took a sip from his drink. "But, like everything, it couldn't last. Sig. Sasserath was dying, you see, so we had to go back to Europe. Besides, I hadn't seen my parents in seven years, so we would have gone back either way."

Four months after the couple returned to Italy, Sig. Sasserath died, leaving Caterina behind a wealth of money, a palace of a house and many other things they didn't know what to do with.

In the end, they sold the house, opened several accounts in various countries, using Sasserath's many international contacts, and they headed back to England among the wealthiest people alive at the time.

They didn't stay for long, though.

"My parents were Calvinists, and my wife was the complete opposite. Believe me when I say it didn't click between them. My parents were critical of everything about us. Our wealth, the way she dressed, the way we acted, my father in particular hated Caterina's accent-"

"Ah-e, bonjorno di pizza pie-e!" Harry exclaimed happily. A furious look from Melchior shut him and a guffawing Ginny up.

"… _Anyway_ , it didn't work. So we moved in with some old friends in South Africa for two and a half years."

"What happened after that?" Sirius asked, still trying to stop smiling.

"Trouble started brewing in Britain," Melchior answered. Seeing no way of captivating his audience anymore, he let the dishes clean themselves up and then retreated to his sofa to read a book, scowling all the while.

Harry grew more and more frustrated with him every day. Ever since he and Ginny found out he was doing something secret underneath the kitchen during their first exam in sneaking around, he wanted to know what exactly Melchior kept hidden. He tried surreptitiously listening in on him while he was in the kitchen but he got nowhere with that. He tried to get Selene to tell him, or at least give him a few hints, but she was almost more tight-lipped than Ginny could be.

Seeing no other possibility, Harry decided to wait until everyone was in bed before sneaking down to find out what was under the kitchen himself. He was waiting for a night where Sirius and Melchior drank a lot, figuring they would be less watchful when they got drunk before going to bed. Harry was confident that tonight would be one of those nights. He thought back to a conversation with Selene.

 _"So how often does Melchior drink?" Harry asked her. He, Selene and Ginny were out on one of their usual walks. This time she opted to edge along the cliffs a bit more. The views were certainly worth it, but even Harry was nervous at the heights he saw below their feet. Those snowy rocks they were walking across did_ not _look safe._

 _"Melchior? Drink? Don't be ridiculous!" Selene laughed. "But to tell you the truth, he drinks more than he should. I've been telling him to slow it down a bit more, but he doesn't listen." She helped them over a slippery crevasse and they continued their trek._

 _"Oh wow, this is so much more fun now that you two are here as well! Look, there in the distance is the forest where I fell out of the tree when I was six, remember?"_

 _"Has he always been drinking this much, then?" Ginny pressed._

 _"Yeah, ever since I can remember. Remember, he fled a war zone when he came here, and he hasn't left in all the years that he's lived here. That sort of thing leaves its mark, you know." She turned around and wagged a finger at him and Ginny. "And no, I won't tell anything more about that, before you ask. I'm not asking you for your inner secrets either."_

 _"That's because you already know them," Ginny grumbled. If Selene heard her, she gave no indication of it. Instead, she maintained her steady pace and further ahead. Harry saw Ginny lose her grip on the snowy slope behind him. He turned around, extended his hand, and helped Ginny over a couple large boulders. They shared a smile and then hurried to catch up with Selene, who was waiting for them further ahead._

 _"How was it like, then?" Harry asked carefully as they continued their trek. "Growing up here. It mustn't have been easy."_

 _Harry couldn't see her face, since she was walking ahead of him, but he did see her shoulders tense slightly. And the way her bum swayed in those tight jeans of her as she walked. She was quite thin, but her curves were definitely there. But then he thought of Daphne looking at him in disapproval, and he quickly averted his gaze._

 _"It was alright," she said eventually, grabbing Harry's attention again. "I mean, I grew up without any other girls around, and I could never invite any friends I might've had to my house, but I'm not unhappy. Melchior can be very strange, but he's nice. I did learn not to cross him, though."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"He'd ground me, for one. And I fucking hate that, let me tell you. And he'll drink if he's angry, and, well, if he doesn't fall asleep first, he'll get a bit… rash."_

Well, looking at their crooked host's face, he certainly was angry. His frown was a bit more present than usual and his normally impassive face now showed a slight scowl. That was probably as much anger as Melchior would show.

Harry caught Ginny's gaze. They shared a knowing look, and Harry felt himself grow excited. He and Ginny were getting more and more proficient at sneaking around, and it was time to put it to good use.

* * *

While his heart pounded in his chest, Harry slipped his Invisibility Cloak over himself. Sirius never noticed anything, and still snored as loudly as ever. He whispered _"non testes"_ while pointing his wand at his feet and again while pointing his wand in his face. No one would hear his footsteps or his breath. He looked at his watch. 2:30.

He quietly rapped his knuckles over the wall next to his bed and heard Ginny do the same from her side moments later. He counted to thirty before getting out of his room. The door didn't creak, thanks to a nifty lubrication charm the Marauders had invented in their time.

He saw Ginny slip out of her room quietly at the same time, and make her way towards him. He tried not to react too much when Ginny fumbled around, unsuccessfully trying to find a way to get under his cloak with him. In the end, he did it for her.

Wordlessly they walked downstairs. Harry sighed in relief when no stairs creaked, and he felt incredibly giddy when they crossed the living room soundlessly and entered the kitchen without a hitch.

They closed the door behind themselves. Harry threw the cloak off and stuffed it inside his pyjamas, and they immediately started exploring the cupboards, drawers, walls, and everything else they could see.

"I can't see anything here," Ginny whispered, closing the cutlery drawer without a sound.

"Me neither," Harry whispered back. "I thought there would be a lever or a button somewhere, but there's nothing here."

"How did you even get that idea?"

"I read books, you know? And I sometimes watched the telly at the Dursleys. Whenever you had a secret room, there was _always_ a secret button or a lever that opened the door to it! I just assumed if there was a way to open this floor, it would be with some sort of mechanism like that."

"Let's try something else, then," Ginny said, pulling out her wand. She pointed it at the floor. _"Alohomora!"_

Nothing happened.

"Open sesame?" Harry suggested.

"Let's keep looking," Ginny sighed.

Harry dropped to his knees to examine the floorboards again. He put his nails between the seams, strained his ears for any hollow sounds as he knocked on various parts of the floor and looked for any loose boards. But nothing. He heard Ginny let out a frustrated sigh behind him.

"This is bloody pointless," she said. "Come on, Harry, let's…" She trailed off.

"Let's what?" He asked, looking behind him. Ginny walked slowly towards a corner and grabbed something from behind the cupboards.

It clinked when she turned around to face him.

"What… Whiskey? Ginny, do you want to drink _firewhiskey_?"

"Why not?" She asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "I've always wondered how it tastes. And no one's here to see us anyway!"

"Yeah, but what if-"

"Oh I knew it. You're scared, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" He protested. He sprang to his feet.

"You Slytherins are all the same, you know? All chickens, every last one of them," she taunted, waving the bottle of liquor about.

"No, we're not!"

"Prove it, then!" Ginny said, grinning at him. "Look, if you want to chicken out and go to bed, that's fine. But I might just tell Melchior and Sirius that you conned poor old me into drinking _whiskey_! Shame on you, Harry!"

Harry didn't respond. Instead, he opened a cupboard above their heads, grabbed two small glasses and put them on the counter. Ginny smirked at him as she unscrewed the cap.

"You are evil, you know that, Ginny?"

If it wasn't so dark, Harry would have noticed her wince at that statement.

She poured them both a carefully measured amount and then put the bottle down. Harry took his drink in his hand and sniffed it carefully, but he immediately regretted doing that. His eyes watered and an awful feeling of light-headedness overwhelmed him. He quickly held the glass as far away from his nose as possible.

"Ready?" Ginny asked. She sounded quite nervous and she eyed her drink doubtfully.

"I guess," Harry said reluctantly. "Well… cheers, then!"

"Cheers." They both brought their glasses to their mouths and Harry took the tiniest of sips.

If he didn't scowl like he'd swallowed a lemon, he would have probably laughed at the face Ginny made, but he was too caught up in the burning sensation of whiskey sliding down his throat to be able to concentrate on anything else.

"Bloody hell," Ginny managed to utter. A couch escaped Harry's throat, but he fought down the urge quickly. It wouldn't do to wake the whole house, not now that they had liquor in their hands.

"Why do people even drink this stuff?" Ginny asked, still grimacing. "That was _horrible!_ "

"Dunno," Harry brought out. He let out a shaky breath. They shared a look.

"Want to try again?" She asked.

"Do you?"

She eyed her drink nervously and then took a bigger sip than her last one. Immediately she put the glass away and pulled the most comical face Harry had ever seen on her. He snorted, but at least he managed not to laugh out loud.

"Oh shut up!" Ginny spluttered and slapped his shoulder once she'd recovered. "If it's so funny, why don't you do it again too?"

Not wanting to be called a coward again, Harry reluctantly took another swig. Now it was Ginny's turn to laugh at him.

A few dares and challenges later, Harry definitely began feeling strange and quite unsteady.

"Are we drunk?" He asked Ginny.

"You are; I'm not," she replied, giggling. "Seriously, this stuff is _hea-vy_!"

"Why are we even here again? For some secret chamber under the kitchen? What in the bloody hell were we thinking?"

"Mum would kill me if she saw us now," Ginny said. Then she started giggling again.

"Sirius would probably join us, wouldn't he?" Harry said. "And Melchior… What would he do?"

Ginny stuck her head forward and arched her back in a convincing attempt to appear hunchbacked.

"I am very disappointed in you two," she declared in a grave voice, her lips turned down in a perfect arch. She tucked a stray lock behind her ear and Harry burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh at me, Harry, and eat your mashed potatoes!" She continued, still in that same tone. Harry had to grab on to the counter to support himself and he clutched his stomach, aching with laughter. He opened his eyes again to say something to Ginny, but stopped laughing when he saw someone standing behind her.

"Wha..?" Ginny asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Tut tut, what do we have here?" Selene said, crossing her arms.

"Nothing," Harry said. He stepped in front of the bottle of whiskey. "We couldn't sleep, so we headed down here, and-"

"Oh, save your excuses, Harry. I can see the fucking bottle sticking out above your head," Selene said amusedly. She reached around Ginny and grabbed the bottle and looked at the content.

" _Firewhiskey?_ Are you two mental?" She then proceeded to take an impressive swig straight from the bottle, grimacing slightly as it went down.

"What?" She asked, seeing Harry and Ginny stare at her. "You get used to it, honestly!"

"I didn't know you drank alcohol," Ginny finally said.

"Well, I usually don't, but what else is there to do in this shithole? You two hardly lasted a month without resorting to it, so imagine living here for sixteen years!" She took another swig and looked at the two children. "So, still looking for the fabled Chamber of Secrets underneath the kitchen, then?"

"Maybe," Harry said. "How old were you when you started drinking?"

"Fourteen," Selene replied. She smiled. "And I was drunk out of my mind the first time, you know. Ended up running around outside in the winter, completely starkers! My nipples could cut have through glass then, it was so cold!"

Harry's mouth fell open, and Ginny burst out laughing.

"What?" Selene asked indignantly. "What did I do wrong?"

"You broke Harry," she replied, gasping between guffaws.

"Yeah, I can see that, but _why?_ " The longer Ginny laughed, the angrier Selene got.

"Ahem," someone said from the doorway, and Harry stopped staring at Selene. He felt fear knot his stomach when he saw Melchior standing there, wearing dark green silk pyjamas that fitted his hunched form perfectly.

"Hi Mel," Selene said cheerfully. "Couldn't sleep with these two roaring the whole house together?"

"No, I couldn't," he replied. "And I am very disappointed in you three." He looked mildly surprised when Harry and Ginny started sniggering again.

"Sorry," Selene said, hanging her head.

Melchior pursed his lips, grabbed the bottle of liquor from her hand and stowed it away again. Then, without further comment, he took Harry and Ginny by the collar of their pyjamas and dragged them through the living room. He took them both in one hand for a moment to open the front door, and then he roughly shoved the two kids outside, into the snow. Harry landed face-first in it and the searing cold instantly forced him to clarity. Apparently it was hard to remain drunk when everything inside him screamed for warmth. Ginny let out a stream of excessively vile curses next to him, and it was probably for the best that her voice was muffled by the snow and the wind.

Harry pushed himself to his knees and looked back at the house to see Melchior standing in the doorway. It could have been the bright moonlight, but he actually looked quite amused at the sight.

Harry stood up and offered his hand to Ginny, but she slapped it away. She scrambled to her feet and stomped past Melchior without further comment. Harry followed her inside, and he saw her make her way up the last few stairs, but Melchior stopped him from following her upstairs.

"No, not yet. Sit down," he said. It was a command, but still he pushed Harry onto the couch by the dying fire. He jabbed his wand at the fireplace, and the fire sprung back to life immediately. Harry felt the warmth seep through his soaked pyjamas almost immediately.

It seemed only a moment later when Melchior interrupted Harry from staring at the stone hearth by placing a large cup of tea on the coffee table in front of him.

"You're not the first drunk, freezing teenager to have sat on that couch," he said. He sank into his sofa. Harry glanced over his shoulder, but didn't see Selene anywhere. She must've gone upstairs as well.

"Anyway," Melchior continued, "I'm glad you're still fully clothed, though."

"I'm sorry," Harry blurted out.

"You will be, tomorrow," Melchior replied, showing him a rare, but humourless grin. "So, still obsessed with my kitchen? I thought you would have given up on it by now, but clearly I underestimated you."

Harry said nothing. He refused to look at the man now, and gripped his cup with both hands while he examined the masonry of the hearth again.

"I want you to promise me, Harry, look at me," Harry looked away from the fireplace and into Melchior's eyes. He saw the light of the flames dance in them. "I want you to promise me not to snoop around for whatever secret room you think there is. You have much more important things to focus on, and sneaking around here in the dead of the night isn't helping anyone. Trust me when I say that you will never find what you're looking for anyway, so it's all just a waste of time."

Harry nodded tersely.

Do you promise me?"

"Yes," Harry replied.

"Good."

They sat there in silence. There was the occasional pop and crack from the fire, but nothing else. Harry felt his energy slip away from him as he sipped his tea, and his eyelids were drooping by the time he'd finished his drink.

"Come on, let's get you into bed," Melchior said. He took Harry by the elbow, helped him to his feet, and Harry let himself be led up the stairs. He thought he saw light shining behind the door to Selene and Ginny's room, but they continued into the next bedroom before he could think about it properly.

"How he slept through that ruckus, I will never know," Melchior said softly when they opened the door and were greeted by Sirius' loud snoring. He guided Harry towards his bed and drew back the blanket back for him.

He felt slightly embarrassed, but was otherwise too tired to be bothered by Melchior tucking him in.

"Goodnight," the man whispered to him.

Harry mumbled something in reply, and, looking back on it, he was probably already asleep by the time Melchior closed the door behind him.

* * *

Harry kept his promise to Melchior and tried to put the secret room underneath the kitchen out of his mind. He had a moment of surprise two weeks later, when he found out he hadn't been thinking about it for quite some time anymore, but the matter didn't really bother him anymore like it did before.

Life went on. After a very rough morning, Harry and Ginny decided together not to drink alcohol anymore in the foreseeable future. Melchior had eventually given in to their pleas and handed them both a hangover potion but it still didn't take the throbbing headache away completely. Harry didn't know whether the man had given them the potion out of kindness, or because he was irritated that Harry and Ginny were unable to follow their lessons due to their hangover. Either way, Harry was thankful for the potion. Ginny's ever-present scowl that day showed quite clearly that she didn't share his gratitude.

Sirius had laughed at their plight all the while. He seemed to find the fact that Harry and Ginny had drank firewhiskey extremely funny, and teased them a lot about it. But, just like Harry, he simply forgot about it after a while. Life simply went on.

But no matter how much time passed, Harry simply couldn't forget about Daphne. Though no one ever talked about her, Harry still thought about her every day, and she appeared in his dreams just as often. Thank god Sirius was always still asleep when Harry woke up. And thank god for cleaning charms.

Often enough a long, hot shower prevented him from brooding too much about it, but the sharp ache that he felt when he thought of her only worsened as the weeks progressed.

So often he wondered how she was now. How her days looked like, what kind of things she was learning at Hogwarts, but especially how she was treated. She was not really hated by anyone other than for being a Slytherin, and she had never been without friends, but Harry still worried about whether or not their relationship had become public. He remembered what happened to Ginny when she became friends with him in the aftermath of what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, and he didn't wish the gossip and outright bullying she'd received upon anyone, let alone his girlfriend.

And what was Malfoy doing? Harry hoped he would continue being too busy cosying up to Pansy Parkinson and goading Ron Weasley and other Gryffindors into fights to bother Daphne.

That train of thought led him to another point: the betrothal.

Try as he might, he could not find a solution to their problem, other than to sneak into Hogwarts to retrieve Daphne, then sneak into Malfoy Manor to kidnap Lucius Malfoy, then sneak into Greengrass Manor to kidnap Marcus Greengrass, and then sneak into the Ministry and somehow force the two men to cancel the contract. And then flee with Daphne.

It was utterly hopeless.

Knowing Sirius' knowledge about the customs and traditions of the Wizarding World, Harry eventually stepped over his reluctance and told him about the betrothal. He would simply have to accept Ginny's smugness later.

Sirius had been a bit upset at first that Harry didn't tell him, but he was sympathetic to his plight nonetheless, and explained to him as much as possible about how betrothals worked.

The contract could be set up by either involved family, but knowing the male-centred culture of the Wizarding World, it was always the family of the man who set up and proposed the contract. The other family then had to sign their agreement, and then the man and the woman had to sign the contract as well to seal the deal.

It was possible to break the contract, but you needed another signed document for that, with the signatures of the patriarchs of both involved families. Harry didn't know Marcus Greengrass, but, knowing that the man most likely accepted the contract only to remain neutral if Voldemort would rise again, Harry had little hope of his cooperation. Lucius Malfoy was beyond reasoning.

Another reason for cancelling a betrothal was the death of one of the two to-be-married, but Harry refused to allow his thoughts to wander off in that direction. He hadn't forgotten about that strange, exhilarating urge he felt when he hurt Professor Lupin back in the cave.

The quite busy daily routine of life at Melchior's house kept him from thinking too much about it, anyway. The days were getting gradually longer, and by mid-February it was almost still light when it was time for supper. This meant that most of their lessons could finally be conducted in daylight, and only now did Harry notice the effect the incredibly short days had had on him. He felt very glad there weren't any days without any sunlight at all anymore. He felt more energized as the weeks continued, and that helped him and Ginny through a couple of very frustrating weeks.

The past few months Melchior spent most of their time teaching Harry and Ginny offensive spells, and more specifically to teach them how to cast those spells as quietly as possible.

Harry had read about silent spell-casting in Hogwarts' library, but it was another thing to attempt to do it himself. Melchior kept hammering on and on about how magic was closely tied to your emotions and that you needed to use that, but Harry just couldn't make any sense of it, and neither could Ginny. Melchior, though, was patient and calm as always and didn't get angry at them for their lack of progress.

That proved to be a good thing too, Harry thought, since Ginny had been very short and put-out with the man ever since he'd thrown her and Harry into the snow that night they got drunk. Ginny had a temper that rivalled Harry's at times, and he knew she would not take it well if Melchior started berating her.

In the end, though, even Melchior ran out of patience. They had to give up learning silent casting and settling for whispered spells instead. They would simply have to hope that their talent for sneaking around would be enough to make up for this.

As February came to a close and March rolled in, Melchior's tales started becoming exciting. Whereas they previously succeeded in making Harry tired enough to go to bed right after dinner, like that one time he told them about how he renovated the attic of one of the barns on his parents' farm, now he felt himself slightly disappointed every time the man found it enough for the day and retreated to his sofa to read a book or play a game of cards with the others.

After his and Caterina's fight with Melchior's parents, they quickly moved out of Britain, and bought a house in in an old miner's town in South Africa. They lived there for two and a half years and led a quiet life.

But then Melchior received a letter from the British Ministry for Magic.

"They must have contacted my parents, because I can't see another way how they could've gotten my address. But the letter drew a very intriguing problem, too intriguing to just pass off. That was the whole point of the letter of course, but seeing as I was bitterly regretting the way my parents and we parted, I just couldn't refuse. It was written by the head of the Auror office, you see. So that was very special in itself. And he wrote about a series of mysterious happenings all over Britain that might be connected. I'll get into more detail on that, don't worry. What's important is that they'd managed to grab my curiosity, and Caterina and I booked a trip back to Britain not long after.

"It was November by the time we returned. I already mentioned that in South Africa the seasons are the other way around, so we went from a bright spring, with trees full of buds and the air still crisp from the winter, to the British weather we all know and love. It was almost depressing enough to make us cancel our plans and never return to Britain anymore. I know that if Caterina had the final word as she usually did, we would have done so anyway. But we didn't. We stayed, and that changed everything.

I had a few meetings in the first few weeks after we'd arrived. First I had a conversation with Dumbledore, who explained some very interesting things to me about the state of the British Ministry. Then I had a meeting with my to-be assistants the next day.

They were some quite illuminating talks. There were a bunch of odd things happening, you see, and a lot of it had to do with a group of people who all happened to have been Slytherins at Hogwarts. The Ministry would have just tossed the case aside if it weren't for Albus Dumbledore personally requesting an investigation. That's where I come into play. You remember all those parties Slughorn threw with his Slug Club, right? Well, seeing as I was present at quite a lot of them before I left Britain, Dumbledore thought me the right person for the case. The fact that my wife and I were insanely rich must've helped him make his decision, too.

"But back to those meetings. They were quite important, you see. I already said it was illuminating, but it wasn't so much that it made me understand the case, it was more the fact that it showed me a very important and equally incompetent side of the Ministry.

"The case had gone up and down quite a big staircase of bureaucracy. One of the Aurors I spoke to, a certain Alastor Moody-"

"Mad-Eye? You know Mad-Eye?" Sirius asked.

"Of course I do. Everyone who's experienced the War knows him, and I'm still wondering when you're finally going to stop interrupting me." His tone became snappier with every word. He took a calming breath, and then continued.

"Moody was quite concerned at the disappearances, and he and that strange eye of his saw a connection that tied it all together. All the crimes, think of vandalism, burglary, and some petty crimes, were all targeted at non-purebloods, and even though there was plenty of evidence pointing towards those ex-Slytherins I talked about earlier, not one of them was ever convicted for anything.

"Moody shared his suspicions with his boss, Head Auror Howard Pearce, and Pearce then talked to his superiors, the heads of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Of course, Orwell Hughes was the big boss, but he had a group of advisors and glorified secretaries working beneath him to relieve his workload a bit.

"So Pearce talked to one of them, who then held ordered a meeting among the advisors for the DMLE. That went nowhere, as Hughes' underlings were divided as for what to do about it. They couldn't make a decision. So took it to Hughes again, but he dismissed the case. Now, the train would have ended there, but Dumbledore stepped in at that point and demanded a full investigation into it.

"So Hughes handed the case to his secretaries, who gave it back to Pearce, who passed it on to Moody, with clear instructions not to investigate it himself. The man had a busy schedule already and they needed him in other cases for the Ministry, so they couldn't afford having him sit behind his desk too much and spend time on an unimportant case. So Moody handed it to one of his Aurors, I don't even remember the name of the lazy bastard, and he finally decided he wasn't going to put any effort onto the case, and he gave it to me and two Hit Wizards.

"Carson and Lewis. I have never met two more incompetent sods. Both failed as Aurors and neither had an inch of ambition in them. I spoke to Dumbledore about it soon after, and we both agreed to involve those two as little as possible. And that is how I, someone who didn't really work for the Ministry, handled an official Auror investigation."

The more stories Melchior told, the less Harry liked the Ministry. Of course, his opinion of it wasn't positive in the first place. The Ministry were actively hunting him, Sirius and Ginny down, and they were fully intent on giving Sirius the Dementor's Kiss and throwing Harry into Azkaban for a very long time. But Melchior's stories fully reinforced Harry's resentment towards the Ministry. He was certain that Sirius and Ginny felt exactly the same.

"In the meantime, Caterina and I were looking for a house," Melchior said during supper early on in March. The sun had set about an hour ago, and Harry was getting quite sick of eating mashed potatoes so often. But he was just so incredibly hungry lately that he didn't protest. Harry thought he had a black hole for a stomach. Ginny was convinced he was slowly turning into a Weasley.

"We briefly lived with my parents after mending our relationship somewhat, but that just wasn't working. We were allowed to live on the old farm only if we interfered as little as possible with my parents' lives. In fact, while we lived on the same address, we hardly ever saw them, as we lived in a separate building, with our own kitchen and bathroom.

So we bought one of those tiny, cramped English homes near Bournemouth. They'd just demolished all the slums there and smacked down a few suburbs in their place, so our neighbourhood was still quite new.

"We hated it there. The house was too small, the city just wasn't fun, there was no room anywhere at all… In the end we decided to just build our own home somewhere else.

"Of course, that's where Caterina's wealthy upbringing came into play again. She wasn't going to accept just any house, you see. In the end, after several very long months and many long nights on the couch, we finally had a plan for the house. It was going to be a sort of copy of Villa Sasserath, though a bit smaller and more suited for the harsher climate in Britain. We bought a small, uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland and went in search of an architect willing to accept such a project. And that was hard, let me tell you.

"In the end, we had to contact the same architect who designed Villa Sasserath, an Italian man named Rafaello. Of course, he was very old by the time we came into contact, but he was nonetheless quite willing to help us." He took a bite out of his share of the bass that Selene had caught during her walk with Ginny and Harry.

Sirius had come too, but grew bored of waiting for the fish to bite and decided to liven things up by changing into Padfoot, sneaking up on Selene and throwing her into the snow. He'd payed dearly for that, and the wild chase quickly grew into a full-fledged snowball fight. They returned to the house covered in snow, but also with one decently sized bass.

"I think the man was quite ready for his life to end. An old man like him overseeing a project like ours was not such a good idea in hindsight.

"Much of the building was made out of marble, you see. And we both agreed that we needed the same kind of marble that was used to build Villa Sasserath. And that type of marble came from Italy, so we had to ship it in from there. From Italy, it went through all of Britain via trucks before it had to be shipped onto our island, and only then could it be used to build the house. Then there were the never-ending issues with the windows: some weren't cut right, others broke en route, and so on. More delays. In the end, it took three years to complete the house, and we still got lucky that it didn't take longer.

"Rafaello in the meantime was running on his last legs, and finally, after yet another shortage of marble, a miscalculation regarding one of the support beams, and a broken down ferry which meant that the builders couldn't get off the island, his heart just stopped, the poor man. Died on the A87 in his Austin. Can't imagine a worse fate.

"Caterina was incredibly stubborn, and that pushed us through. We hired a new team of architects who asked an obscene amount of money before they accepted the job, we finally received the last shipment of marble and before we knew it, our house was done."

"And you're not going to tell us why you don't live there anymore, or course," Sirius said sarcastically. He had never really grown the patience for Melchior's tales. "Your wife cheat on you, is that it?"

For a moment, it looked like Melchior was going to explode. Harry didn't know how, but it almost felt like someone had opened all the windows at once. A spike of cold wind touched his face, and he swore he saw the flames in the hearth dance wildly as if a strong gust of wind ran through it. But only a blink of an eye later, it was over. Melchior's grip on his fork and knife lessened and he stopped glaring at Sirius. Harry suspected Selene's calming hand on his shoulder helped a lot.

"No," he finally bit out. He sighed and all tension left the man's face. "I'm sorry. It's…"

"It's a bit of a sore spot for him. For us," Selene said helpfully. She cast a glance across the table, daring Harry, Ginny and Sirius to respond to that. The table could just as easily have been a ravine at that moment.

"That's all right," Sirius replied, still eyeing Melchior wearily. "We've all got our traumas from the war."

"Indeed," Melchior said. For a moment no one said anything. Selene still looked around the table like she was ready to fight anyone who dared to talk any more about it, and Melchior didn't look up from his plate for once.

"Do you have any more fish?" Ginny asked, probably only to break the silence.

"Certainly," Melchior said. He coughed and passed the dish to her.

Not much was said anymore.


	9. Chapter 9: Hearts on Fire

**Author's notes:** I'm afraid things will get a bit Rocky.

* * *

"Alright, I think you're ready for something more," Melchior said. Harry didn't know whether to feel excited or scared.

It was mid-April, and he, Ginny, and Melchior were standing outside, in front of the house. The snow was steadily melting in the dale beneath, the sun shone longer and brighter with every day that passed, and more and more sounds emanated through the mountainous landscape: the flowing of a rapidly growing stream that was fed by melting snow. The impressive sound of innumerable reindeer endlessly wandering across the plateau that lay just on the other side of the ravine. More and more bird songs echoing through the trees. The howling of a pack of wolves far into the distance. Harry found it a worrying and somewhat disconcerting noise at first, but it soon became more familiar. It was one of the things that became a normal part of life, like the ever-burning fire in the house, the sound of the wind blowing through the pines, birches, alders and willows, and the sound of Melchior pacing through the living room when everyone else was asleep.

As the days became longer, more and more of the surrounding areas became visible as well. The mountains were no longer black, looming shapes on the horizon, but beautiful, full of life and colour. And rather than threatening, the forests around them became more and more inviting, especially now that he started to learn just how much the woods had to offer to him: fish, firewood, a few early morels that they would mix in with dinner to at least make the mashed potatoes taste less boring, and Harry and Ginny's favourite: birch tree sap.

Selene showed them one day how to gather the sap: she cast a controlled and precise cutting curse at the stem of the thicker birches, and then conjured a tube that led into a plastic cola bottle that she had brought with them. Then they would walk away for a while, and when they returned some time later that day, the bottle had a respectable amount of sap in it. Harry found its taste rather bland at first, but it improved a lot after they boiled it down when they returned home later. It was sweet, sugary and stuck to his palate slightly. He loved it. Ruddy hippies, indeed.

Harry felt happier than he'd ever felt before. He was here, in a beautiful, awe-inspiring area, he didn't have to worry about the outside world at all, and he was with people he cared about.

And that was a strange conclusion. He had actually grown to care about Melchior and Selene, despite everything. They had sheltered Harry, Sirius and Ginny, and they took care of them. Harry didn't want to imagine where he would be without them.

He still held no illusions about their personality, though. They were strange people, no matter how nice they were to him, and especially Selene was shockingly aggressive at times.

Ginny, bored of Selene's endless stories during their walks in the woods, tried sneaking up on her one time to scare her. She ended up pressed against a tree with a knife pushed against her throat with such a force that a trickle of blood welled up from it. Both girls shouted the most vulgar language at each other for quite some time before Harry managed to calm them down. But Ginny learnt her lesson. The slight mark the knife left behind remained visible on her throat for quite some time.

And the more Harry got to know Melchior, the more he knew the man was holding a lot back from him. After Melchior's near outburst at Sirius' remark a few months back, he stopped telling so many tales about himself during dinner. It had become a quieter affair since, and Harry somewhat missed the stories. He'd much rather be listening to those stories than watching Sirius' and Melchior's confrontation simmer below the surface at every meal.

Another thing that had changed since then was Melchior's drive during Harry and Ginny's lessons. He was quite animated and insistent on covering a lot of subjects before, but that all paled in comparison to how he was now.

He taught them from breakfast till dinner, with only a few pauses and a lunch in between, and he was much sterner as well. For three stupid, stale, annoying weeks, he forced Harry and Ginny to work on their silent spell-casting, and he had decided that he wouldn't accept a single whispered spell. Harry's breakthrough eventually came when he smashed a cup in frustration. Ginny's came when she was so fuming she melted an impressive amount of snow around her.

But that wasn't enough. First, they had to go through their entire repertoire of spells and be able to cast every single one of them silently. Then they had to learn a lot of new offensive spells, some of which very much deadly (Harry was repulsed and oddly fascinated by a strong version of the cutting curse. Many conjured training dummies lost their heads during those lessons), and all the while they had to read through some very dry, old and way too thick books about wards. Harry was sick of it.

"Something more?" Ginny asked, and Harry pulled himself out of his string of thoughts. Her white coat had the same colour as the melting snow around them, making her flaming red hair stand out even more than usual.

"Yes, something more. You're now very, very good at sneaking around, stealing things and taking down your foes from behind, especially considering your age. But there will come a time where you are forced to face your opponent head on and fight them, and you need to be prepared for that. I am going to teach you how to duel."

Harry and Ginny shared a look. Harry managed to stop himself from saying "finally!" out loud.

"Your opponent for today will be me, but be warned: I will not hold back. The snow should be sufficient to break the fall. Now then, who will go first?" Melchior asked.

"I will," Harry said. He felt his trepidation mounting as he and Melchior stepped further apart from each other. Ginny walked towards the boulders at the edge of the clearing, deciding to watch from a distance.

That was when something impacted his chest and he fell backwards in the snow.

"Lapse in concentration, Harry," Melchior barked.

"You didn't say when we were starting," Harry grumbled as he scrambled on his feet again.

"Who said I would?" Melchior countered. "Remember what I told you. Rule number one: ignore the rules. Again." This time, Harry managed to duck away just in time, and he immediately fired off a counter-curse. Melchior swatted it aside and sent forth a burst of magic. Harry ducked away, but he was still knocked over.

"That was a wide spell, not a concentrated, piercing one. Not everyone can do it, as it requires a lot of power, but you should be prepared for it nonetheless. Block it with your shield next time. Again."

Melchior was relentless. For what seemed like hours, Harry was forced to fight him again and again. It was a strange sight, seeing Melchior's broad, malformed, hunched figure move so gracefully as he attacked Harry with an unbelievable speed. He quickly learnt not to get distracted by that, though. Instead, he ground his teeth and willed himself to do the best he could.

At some point, he thought he was progressing, and he started to understand the rhythm of a proper wizarding duel. Attack, defend, attack, dodge, and that sequence in seemingly infinite variations. It was exhilarating, and Harry was soon grinning excitedly while casting his spells. He was especially proud of himself when he managed to execute a perfect roll to dodge a stunning spell.

But then his foot got stuck under a rock that was hidden underneath the snow. Melchior didn't show mercy, and Harry was blasted backwards, with his foot still wedged.

He didn't break any bones, but it definitely didn't feel right in his leg. Melchior quickly summoned an ice pack from inside the house and bound it around Harry's ankle to prevent any swelling.

Harry was somewhat unsurprised when Melchior insisted that he would continue the duelling practice only moments after he'd bound the ice pack.

"In battle, you _will_ get injured, and you _will_ feel pain. You will learn to stop yourself from getting distracted by that. Grab your wand, and get up."

The fight got grittier after that. Melchior had taught him to pour his emotions into his spell-casting, and Harry found out there and then that anger was definitely a useful emotion to get lost in.

Harry was sick of Melchior at that moment. He was sick of how the man first injured him and then demanded that he would continue the duel, even though his ankle hurt more with every step. He was sick of the man's love for mashed potatoes, he was sick of his never-ending classes, he was sick of all the secrecy, and he was apparently still angry about him and Selene spying on him for four months straight.

Harry squatted down to let a spell fly over his head, but his ankle didn't like that and a sharp pain spread through his lower leg. And that was the last straw. Harry saw red. Instead of a stunning spell or a disarming spell, he sent the most powerful cutting curse he could conjure right at the man's throat.

Melchior blocked it with ease of course. They met eyes for a moment, and Harry almost faltered at the man's intense gaze.

"That's it, Harry," he snarled. He followed up with another wide spell. Harry conjured a shield at the last moment that absorbed the impact of the spell. "No more holding back now. Use that emotion. Come on!"

Harry snarled and sent another cutting curse at the old man. And another. And another. Melchior swatted it all aside like it was nothing. It was futile, and the ease with which Melchior blocked Harry's spell was more tiring than the duel itself. In the end he didn't even try to block the disarming spell that Melchior sent at him.

"Alright, that's enough for now," the man said after he caught Harry's wand in his left hand.

Harry felt his anger disappear like snow in the sun, and the pain in his ankle returned in full force. He paid no mind to the cold and sank down to the ground.

"Tiring, isn't it?" Melchior asked. Harry nodded, even though he didn't know what part he was referring to.

Alright Ginny, you're up next. Harry, you need to get up quickly. You'll do yourself no good sitting in the snow like that," Melchior said.

Harry groaned and got up slowly. He wiped the snow off his jeans and coat with sore arms, and snow sprayed around him when he ran his hand through his hair. The more he moved, the more pains and kinks he discovered. His ankle throbbed angrily as he stood up, but he still managed to grin at Ginny as she approached him.

"Have fun!" He said as he started to slowly limp towards the house. She only raised her middle finger at him in response.

Harry was touching the doorknob of the front door when Melchior called him back.

"Don't even think about going inside. I want you to watch and learn. Here, sit down." He conjured a simple wooden chair for Harry to sit on. Harry sank down onto it slowly, feeling his legs tremble with fatigue. "Tomorrow I want both of you to tell me what you did wrong and what you could have done differently." And he immediately hurled a spell at Ginny. She was prepared, having watched the man duel with Harry before, and she sidestepped it nimbly.

She managed to hold on for an impressive amount of time, but, like Harry, she never came close to winning. Eventually a disarming spell pierced through her hastily conjured shield and her wand sailed gracefully into Melchior's hands.

"Impressive. But not good enough." He threw her wand back at her, but started firing spells at her before it even reached her.

* * *

Only after almost a month of gruelling, tiring trainings that left Harry and Ginny groaning with fatigue and their bodies more sore than ever before did Melchior take pity on them. By now the temperature was steadily rising, and they had to wade through a thick layer of slush every time they went outside. There were more and more catkins hanging from the trees every day, and this Tuesday, just three days ago, during an especially tiring duelling session against Melchior, Harry saw a tuft of what he thought were snowdrops rising above the rapidly melting snow. Of course, that distraction allowed Melchior to get a nasty stinging hex past his steadily developing shield. The place where the spell impacted him continued to sting the entire day, but the signs of spring, even this high up and this far north, left him in a good spirit.

Today, however, they wouldn't get to enjoy the outside, because Melchior said he'd planned something for them that required them to stay indoors.

"What are we going to do now?" Ginny asked. It occurred to Harry that they had stopped calling him "sir" a long time ago. Melchior didn't seem to mind.

"Today, I want you to start specializing in something. Every witch or wizard is unique, and so are their abilities. I'm quite proficient in potions and wards, for example, Selene in, well, destroying everything, and Dumbledore is a true master in transfiguration and charms, just to give you another example. Sirius, what's your strong point?"

"Transfiguration. Being an Animagus really helped me with the subject," Sirius answered from the couch. He was staring at today's newspaper, where an old picture of him during his stay at Azkaban graced the front page. Apparently he was sighted in Scotland today. The Ministry reacted immediately, once again assigning the Dementors as guards of Hogwarts. It still amazed Harry to no end how much power rumours had.

"Well there you have it," Melchior said. "Harry, what was your favourite subject at Hogwarts?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. "Well, first it was Charms, but when we finally had a competent Defence teacher this year, that was fun too. Professor Lupin was even going to teach me the Patronus Charm after the holidays," he said. He missed his little talks with the professor after Defence lessons.

"The Patronus Charm?" Melchior asked, looking at Harry sharply. "Yes, I could see why you needed to learn that. Why, Selene here can attest to that. Selene, dear, would you demonstrate yours, please?"

Selene looked quite uncomfortable as she got up from her sofa and pulled out her wand.

 _"Expecto Patronum,"_ she cried, waving her wand about in the air. A large orca burst from her wand and lit up the room. It swam around quite gracefully, and that was an impressive feat, given the little space it had inside. Harry saw spots in his eyes after the animal disappeared.

"Very impressive," Sirius commented, giving her his most charming smile. Selene quickly sat down again and didn't look up from her lap, all the while furiously fiddling with her pocket knife.

"Moving on, then. It might be a good idea to teach you the charm as well. Sirius, you can cast a Patronus, right?"

"How do you… oh never mind. _Expecto Patronum!_ " A large, bright, shaggy dog appeared for a moment and pranced around happily before it faded away.

"Very good," Melchior said. "Harry, Ginny, we've got a lot to do still, but I think I can start teaching you the charm in a few weeks. I think you're going to need it. Anyway, let's get back to today's subject. Ginny, what's your strong point?"

"I dunno," she said, a touch shyly. "I can fly, I guess."

"Yes, yes, and quite well, as I'm led to believe. Maybe we could buy you two a broom. That would be useful, seeing as you two are quite talented on them."

"Why would we need those?" Harry asked.

"I was going to ask you the same, actually. What do you think?"

Harry was silent for a while, but Ginny's eyes lit up.

"We could… cast spells from our brooms!" She said excitedly. "And travel anywhere we like without the Ministry knowing! Use it as an escape, just in case…"

"Exactly!" Melchior said as enthusiastically as Ginny. "Brooms are so much more than mere tools for Quidditch!" Harry and Ginny found each other's eyes for a moment, and she looked just as affronted by that statement as he was. "So your strong point is flying. But I think you have more talents than that, don't you?" Melchior said.

Ginny shrugged.

"Power! Ginny, you and Harry both have so much power within you. You fought off the Dark Lord for almost a year-" Ginny's cringe was barely noticeable, "-and I could feel it when we were duelling. Just think of the possibilities when you two work together. It would be magnificent!"

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"Exactly what I said! Man isn't built to live alone. A person on their own always needs to do more than he can handle. Attack and defend, for instance. Gather food and cook it, too. Make plans and then keep himself in check so that he doesn't overextend himself. Not to mention the fact that you'll go completely mad without having someone to talk to..." He paused for just a moment and scratched his beard before continuing.

"Anyway, that's why you're stronger when you're together. Well, with the right partner, that is. The fact that you're on the run together is quite beneficial. I would almost say you're lucky you two are together, but then again, power attracts power, so…" Harry was determined not to look at Ginny as the man rattled on.

"Excuse me. Where was I? Ah, right. Power. I want you two to feel it, and I want you two to use it. I learnt a few methods myself when Caterina and I stayed with some Buddhists in Tibet, and I'll teach you those in a minute. First, though, I want you to look through my bookshelves and pick out a book that contains spells, charms, hexes, or anything else that requires power. You'll use that when practicing and getting to know yourself later." He clapped his hands once. "Well, go on, then!"

Harry and Ginny got up from the table and walked towards the bookshelves. There were only three small shelves, but somehow they stored an unbelievable amount of books. Harry ignored _Warding for the Wary_ , _Runes: the Keys to Kingdom_ and the very, very thick _A Brief History of Magical Britain_ , and paused at a few books about the Dark Arts.

"What do you reckon this is?" Ginny asked Harry, pulling out a small book with black binding.

"It looks like a diary," Harry said. Ginny's hand shot back as if stung. Harry pulled it out completely and, after casting a quick glance in the direction of Melchior, leafed through it a bit. He could see lots of very small, cursive handwriting. Every page had a date above it. He could see the years 1969, 1970 and 1971 in the first part of the diary.

"I think this is Melchior's," Harry said. He looked at Ginny, but she was eyeing the diary with distinct repulsion.

"Sorry," he said. He closed it again.

"Just put it back before he notices," she hissed at him, and resumed sifting through the books. Harry slipped it in the inner pocket of his vest.

"Have you chosen your books yet?" Melchior appeared behind them suddenly. Harry managed not to jump at the sound of his voice, and instead showed him _"Spells and Curses for the Practical Wizard"_. Ginny presented him _"Your Mind is your Own: 101 Ways to Defend Your Mind from Intrusion"_.

"Both very good choices," Melchior commended them. "Ginny, perhaps yours is a bit too advanced?" But Ginny clenched her jaw, raised her chin, and looked admirably stubborn, as if daring Melchior to have her choose another book.

He showed her a ghost of a smile. "Alright then, if you insist. It'll be a good challenge. Put those books on the table for now. We'll go through them later. First things first…" He took out his wand and the dining table and chairs were shoved into the far end of the room. He waved his wand again and two long, white mats appeared in their place.

"Lie down," he ordered. They complied. The mat had looked soft and comfortable, but, lying down on it, Harry felt the wooden floor underneath it press into his back and bum. He hoped they wouldn't have to remain in this position for too long.

"Now close your eyes. Ginny, you're much too tense. Relax a bit more. Good… Now focus on your breath. Feel how you breathe in and out. In… and out. Harry, don't control it too much. Let it happen. Breathe in… and then push the air out again." Harry stopped thinking about what a strange sight he must've made and instead concentrated on his breathing. Melchior didn't say anything for a while, and Harry was more and more aware of the actual need for breath, not so much the automatic movement in his belly and chest.

"Now, I want you to start being aware of your body... Feel your energy course through you, from your head… all the way to your toes. Feel every tingle in the tips of your fingers… Feel the way your clothes touch your body…"

Harry felt energy. And lots of it. It flowed through his arms, down his chest and tingled his stomach. It was everywhere in his body, and it yearned to be freed, used, exploited. It was an invigorating feeling, and he wondered how this would feel if Daphne was with him. But it was Ginny who was beside him now, not Daphne.

Melchior's voice broke through the stream of thoughts. "And gradually, you'll find your thoughts wandering. You'll stray to other things… and that's alright. It's a basic function of your brain to constantly think… and you can't stop that. Thoughts are perpetual, a never ending stream. What you need to do, though… is to be aware of your thoughts… know when you have wandered off… and then you return… to the way your breath feels. And then you start over again. Feel your body…"

* * *

From that day forth, Melchior had them meditate every day. Harry was reluctant at first, and especially Ginny often wondered out loud what the use of it was. Sirius calling them spiritual hippies in jest didn't help either. Harry didn't know who he distracted more with those comments: him and Ginny, or Melchior.

"You are distracting my students!" The man vociferated one day after one joke too many. "I'm starting to think it was a mistake to leave the choice up to you about following my lessons! You act like a child!"

"We could always take it outside, old man," Sirius replied with a humourless grin. "We could see who needs to teach who a lesson."

"Hey Sirius," Selene interrupted. "Remember the fight on the train?"

That did the trick. Sirius glared at Selene for an uncomfortable amount of time, but he toned down his comments during Harry and Ginny's meditation sessions after that. Harry was amazed at how much effect a knee to the bits had on Sirius.

Despite this, Melchior wasn't deterred, and Harry and Ginny eventually stopped complaining when the effects started to show themselves in a dramatic fashion. Harry could only describe it as magic. He not only cast spells now, he could actually feel them form, build up inside him and then release through his wand. This gave him so much more control, and it was a thrill to put it to use through his spells. Especially his shield charms improved rapidly. He couldn't see the effect it had on Ginny, since she was using it to strengthen the defences of her mind (Harry didn't quite understand how), but she did look a lot happier than she'd ever been since she came out of the Chamber of Secrets.

Life, in short, was good.

* * *

And it only improved, as did the weather. As May progressed, the ever-present snow disappeared only to cling to the shadows of the thicker evergreens, creases in rocks, and other places where sunlight doesn't reach, and it made way for a previously hidden world of rocks, mosses and thick, wild grass.

The house was not far from the treeline, and Harry could see barren, endless tundra stretching out on higher grounds. The glacier further into the ravine stuck out even more now that the snow had melted around it. And the valley beneath had become a sea of green in an impressively short amount of time.

Harry found it amazing that only a few months ago he thought the area intimidating and threatening, with those dark mountains dominating the sky everywhere. Now, though, there was nothing left of that intimidating sight, and he felt the urge, no, the _need_ to get on a broom and fly from mountaintop to mountaintop.

Harry was still marvelling at these changes during one of their walks. Now that it started getting warmer, he actually started looking forward to them. Sirius made it even more fun with his antics as a dog. He chased butterflies, jumped around noisily in brooks and meltwater streams and stood still as a statue when he heard the local pack of wolves communicate far away.

And today it was no different, Harry thought as he watched his godfather dart around the forest without a care in the world. It was a warm day, there wasn't a cloud to be seen, and the sun shone so brightly that Harry didn't need his jacket for once.

He instead walked around in one of the T-shirts that Ginny had picked out for him in Paris. It was white, well fitting, and on the front it said "STUD" in large, flashy purple letters. It had taken Ginny a lot of persuasion, but eventually he gave in and let her buy it for him, just to make her needling stop. But it actually fit him and he felt quite comfortable wearing it, neither of which could be said about the hand-me-downs from Dudley he used to wear.

Ginny and Selene too had shrugged off their jackets, and the three of them plus a happy mutt named Sirius spent the afternoon in the forest, travelling from one sunlit spot to the next. There was birdsong all around, the trees swayed lazily in a fresh and invigorating breeze, and all the while the brook flowed near them, its water so clear that Harry could easily count the small fish swimming around near the rocky bottom.

 _'So this is what spring is all about,'_ he thought. He was beginning to understand why people loved this time of year so much.

His world was turned sideways when he was pushed off his feet, and he fell roughly into the brook to his left. Ice cold water washed over his body and soaking his clothes instantly and he took a deep, gasping breath from the sudden cold. He looked around in confusion to see who'd pushed him, and then Sirius was there, splashing around in the shallow water, barking in his ear, pushing his nose against his face and wagging furiously. Harry laughed and tried to push his godfather underwater, but he was much stronger than Harry, and in the end he found himself on his back, half submerged and with Sirius' front paws on his chest.

"Help me!" He called to Ginny and Selene. They immediately came to his rescue, and the three of them finally managed to shove Sirius away. He wasted no time in running away to avoid retaliation. Each girl grabbed one of Harry's arms to help him up, and he showed his gratitude by pulling them down into the water with him.

It was the last carefree day of Harry's life.

They spent their afternoon near the stream for as long as they could. When they got too cold, they lied down on the sun-heated rocks and moss, and when that got too boring, they dove into the water again. Sirius was an image of utter content, lying completely relaxed in the sun, with his tongue hanging out. And when Harry met Ginny's bright brown eyes he could only see pure, unrestrained happiness in them.

But then the sun disappeared behind a cloud and an ice cold breeze came on, immediately chilling Harry to the bone.

Thankfully, Selene summoned their jackets, and Harry pulled his on as fast as he could. They walked back in a friendly, content silence, all revelling in the afterglow of a perfect spring afternoon.

"We have something to celebrate today," Melchior announced when they arrived back at their house.

"No more mashed potatoes?" Ginny asked cheekily, and Melchior surprised all of them by bursting out laughing. Selene looked positively radiant, seeing the man laugh so loudly, without a care in the world.

"Not quite," he finally said. He wiped his eyes dry. "I really do like you, Ginny. But no, I'm sorry to disappoint you. We do have a very large and very succulent steak for dinner, though. No, today is a very special day. It's Selene's birthday!" Selene spontaneously grew beet red and ducked her head.

"It's not my birthday!" She protested, but couldn't stop the impromptu _Happy Birthday_ the others began to sing.

"Hip hip…" Melchior said.

"Hurray!" They all threw their arms up. Ginny grabbed Selene's arms and forcing her to join in on the cheers. They'd really warmed up towards each other, Harry thought happily.

"No, stop…" Selene protested.

"Hip hip…"

"Hurray!"

"Fuck's sake."

"Hip hip…"

"Hurray!" Harry said a half-hearted "hurray" to close it off, and then it was time for dinner.

"So, what do you want for your birthday?" Melchior asked.

"A big glass of red wine," Selene said, having finally given up her protests.

"An excellent idea! Harry, Ginny, firewhiskey for you I presume?"

"Really?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"No."

Melchior disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and reappeared with a fancy looking bottle. He poured himself, Selene and Sirius a glass and then summoned two glasses of water for Harry and Ginny. They toasted to Selene and to a long, warm, happy summer.

"So is it really your birthday or is it not?" Sirius asked after they tucked into their meal.

"It's a bit complicated. We don't know my actual birthday, but we do know the day I was left at the safe house, and we've always used that as my birthday."

"Safe house?" Sirius asked.

Selene and Melchior shared a long look. Finally, Melchior sighed and turned back to the others. "I think it's time for another story." Sirius raised an eyebrow, but let Melchior continue.

"When we previously left off, I believe Caterina and I were still living in Bournemouth, and our house in Scotland was being built, right?"

"I think so," Harry said.

"Right. Well, as our life continued, so did that case I was investigating. By now it was 1969, and although the general public didn't know anything, things had already gotten way out of hand. Muggles disappearing, grave robberies, a massive increase of Dark Creatures all over Britain, talks of the Defence Against the Dark Arts job at Hogwarts being cursed, and, most worryingly, bribes within the Ministry. Cases against Purebloods were now being dismissed even more often than before, sudden lawsuits against important people who were probably in the way, and lots of pressure on me to stop the investigation and sod off back to South-Africa. Of course, since it was those two oafs Carson and Lewis threatening me, I didn't worry too much about it, but it was still disconcerting.

"The situation was getting out of hand. So much so, in fact, that I found the combined force of me and Caterina, and sometimes Dumbledore's advice, not enough anymore. So I contacted a few of my old friends from the Slug Club. Even after so many years of being away from Britain, those contacts were still there, you see. Horace truly is a genius in that aspect, I tell you.

"We quickly gathered a group of good friends who were more than happy to help us. In fact, it was going so well that I started attending the Slug Club again, looking for N.E.W.T. level students to recruit. Those young people need a job and money most desperately, but what I found more important was that they're still fresh in this world. Not deluded by the Ministry or our as of yet mysterious group of criminals, y'know?

"I had a few old friends enlarge our basement and we made it a proper meeting room, with couches, a billiard table, coffee tables, all that stuff. It was a big success, actually. We had people come over every day of the week, be it just for tea and a quick game of cards, or discussing new developments. It made life in Bournemouth bearable, and we finally had a distraction from all the stress of our to-be-home in Scotland." He paused to take a couple of bites from his steak.

"Now, bear in mind that I was still quite young then. Oh, I was 29 of course, but life had been a bed of roses for me until then, apart from a fight with my parents here and there. I never had to worry about money or work and I never had to worry about dating either, and that was all because I had Caterina by my side.

"In that young inexperience, I got cocky. I saw our rapidly growing group as a new movement, a way to bring change to the corrupt and old-fashioned Wizarding World. In my bigheadedness, I called it _The Opposing Movement_." He filled his wineglass again and took a large swig. "One consequence of recruiting young people was that the meetings often got out of hand, let me tell you that. My plan at the start was to hold regular, simple and purposeful meetings, but in the end our basement turned into a sort of party centre every weekend. I don't even want to list the things we consumed there on a daily basis. It was 1969 at the time, I'll remind you."

"Sounds like fun," Sirius grinned.

"You have no idea," Melchior said, smirking. "Of course, the mood was often dampened when a new development came to light. It was going quite fast by then. More dark creatures sighted, blackmails, inexplicable murders on Muggles, and so on.

"We moved into our new house in the spring of 1970, opened the Floo up for other members of our little organisation and we finally settled in properly. The fun thing is that, as a wizard, you can live anywhere you like. Need some groceries? Just Apparate to the shop. Need to visit someone? Just use the Floo. Life was good and easy. That was when the War began. And it started off with a bang, too: Giants."

"Voldemort had _Giants?_ " Ginny asked, aghast.

"Oh, yes he did. And that's all the fault of the Ministry as well. If they hadn't treated them Giants so dismissively, if they hadn't accepted such racist policies against them, it wouldn't have happened at all. But the Giants were angry with the British Wizards after the Ministry revoked their right to wander, and Voldemort used that to entice the Giants into fighting for his cause."

"You can't possibly mean that!" Sirius said heatedly. "Are you blaming the Ministry for restricting the Giants' movements? Do I need to remind you what often happened when they were still free to walk anywhere they wanted? How many people were killed by Giants?"

"Yes, and you can see how much good those restrictions did," Melchior argued. "More people were killed by Giants during the War than in all of the century before that! Now let me finish my story."

Grumbling, Sirius went back to eating his dinner.

"I remember the start of the War well. Caterina and I were woken up in the middle of a summer night by someone of the Opposing Movement calling us via the Floo. I believe it was Geoff Knight. He worked for the Department of Law Enforcement in the Ministry, and that's how he knew so quickly that something terrible had happened in Wales. Naturally, we went there ourselves to see what had happened.

"We found a large amount of rubble that used to be a village, several very large footprints and a lot of Aurors investigating it, and they weren't too happy with my presence there, let me tell you. I simply told them this had to do with that now three years old case I was working on. But I was actually sent away from the scene, and three days later I was called up to the Ministry, and they took the case away from me. I received a bouquet of flowers, a nice bottle of Elven wine and a sack of galleons that clearly said: _"don't interfere with Ministry business anymore."_

"In the meantime, someone who called himself Lord Voldemort had stepped up, claiming responsibility for the attack and vowing to start his reign of terror in order to clean up the Wizarding World from _"impurity"_ , or that's what he called non-pureblood witches and wizards anyway. That very same night he unleashed a horde of Werewolves in a village near Manchester, leaving behind, what was it? Over 50 dead? I can't remember the exact number. It was horrific enough anyway.

"We held an emergency meeting within the Opposing Movement the next day. I'll simply call it the OM from now on. We had grown a lot, and we were quite a large group by then, with about twenty-five people. And it would become even bigger during the war. Anyway, at the time, we had…" He twiddled with some of his beard hairs. "One worked for the Daily Prophet, a lot of them for the Ministry, there were two Healers from St. Mungo's, we had a young Quidditch Player and her coach-"

"Who?" Ginny interrupted eagerly.

"Gloria Smith, and her coach Gwendolyn Morgan."

"You know _the_ Gloria Smith?" Ginny all but squealed. "The coach of the Holyhead Harpies?"

"Well, she was still their Seeker back then, but yes, I knew her," Melchior replied, smiling. "Fan of the Harpies, I presume?"

"You have no idea," Harry grinned. Ginny smacked his shoulder.

"But anyway," Melchior pressed on, despite Ginny, who clearly was not done with her interrogation yet. "We held a meeting, and all agreed that we would try and stop this Lord Voldemort. I didn't just recruit anyone, you see. They were all good, brave people, people who didn't shy away from danger.

'Around that time, Dumbledore contacted me as well. He knew of the OM, of course, and I think he rather liked the idea of a sort of secret society. He'd founded one himself, you see, named the Order of the Phoenix. I presume you know about this?"

"Yeah, Sirius told me about it a bit," Harry said, but Ginny shook her head.

"No matter," Melchior said. "We'll get to that later. Dumbledore wanted me to join it as well, but I was already too invested in the OM, so I refused. We came to an agreement, though, that we would work together when we could. We trusted each other and our groups enough for that." He refilled his wineglass again.

"The war progressed. Voldemort stopped massacring entire villages and found other ways to carry out his mission of unhinging Wizarding Britain, namely targeting the families of those who opposed him. His message was simple, but powerful: if you didn't comply with his wishes, everyone you loved would be in danger. People quickly learnt to take his threats seriously. Head Auror Howard Pearce lost his only child because he refused to align himself with Voldemort, for example, and that was really the point where the war grew more serious. But there were less prominent threats too. Think of break-ins here and there, threatening letters in your post-in, or a beat-up if Voldemort's lackeys caught you alone.

"Voldemort really liked to work from the shadows, and only a year after the war began, so this was the summer of 1971, you couldn't trust anyone anymore. You didn't know who was in league with Voldemort and who wasn't. The threat hung in the air: who was next on their list? Is it you? Is it me? Voldemort himself rarely showed himself, but those who saw him and lived to tell the tale spoke of a frightening, monstrous person, more snake than man, and that only reinforced his already successful campaign of fear.

"We of the OM didn't know what to do anymore. We didn't know who we could target, and even if we _did_ manage to capture someone and deliver them to the Ministry on a platter, they would always escape prosecution. Some escaped from custody, others were cleared under mysterious circumstances. And they all disappeared immediately afterwards. It was hopeless.

"That was when Caterina came up with an idea. She spoke of the Resistance in Italy during the Second World War, and how they would set up a network of safe houses to aid Jews, hide weapons and provide shelter for the resistance movement.

"It was perfect. Voldemort vowed to kill every muggle and Muggleborn, or _"Mudblood"_ as he started calling them, you see, so they needed protection. And Caterina reckoned that we, the OM, could provide that.

"We proposed the idea to the others and it was accepted. I and another man named Ben Dover were able to cast the Fidelius charm. Do you know that charm?"

"No," Harry and Ginny replied.

"It's a charm that hides a property, or an estate. The moment you cast the charm on it, it's hidden from everyone, as if it had never existed."

"Just like that?" Harry asked.

"Just like that. The one who manages this secret is called the Secret Keeper, and he decides who has access to the hidden property and who doesn't. So what we did was we hid the houses of all of the members of the OM and made safe houses and refugee centres out of them. By this time we had one or two connections to mainland Europe too. I believe I already mentioned that other countries closed their borders to all Britons during the war, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I think you did," Harry replied.

"Well, you can imagine, then, how precious those rare connections to the outside world were. The person who worked for us in France, Jacques Plaquesac, he was an employee of the French Ministry's Department of Magical Transformation, the _DTM_ , so he had the authority to create French portkeys. And that was our connection to the outside world. The OM slowly transformed into a sort of international smuggle route. And a network of safe houses, of course.

"Selene was found at one of those safe houses on June the 7th, 1974. She was still a baby, not even a year old. But no one knew how she got there, since it was under the Fidelius, and everyone who had access to the house denied any involvement. It was a true mystery."

"So where did the name 'Selene' come from, then?" Sirius asked.

"Ah, now that's a good question," Melchior said. He looked as if he was enjoying telling this tale quite thoroughly. He sat up straighter in his chair before he continued. "Back in my house, which was still the headquarters of the OM, I had a sort of map of all the safe houses, showing everyone present there. Just a safety measure, of course. It was an ingenious piece of magic, and I really wish I could tell you it was my idea. But it's not.

"I first got the idea when I was attending a Slug Club meeting at Hogwarts a few months before, where I talked to a certain boy named Sirius Black, and he told me of a very interesting idea he had. Something he called the _"Marauder's Map"_ …" Everyone looked at Sirius, who had gone completely rigid in his seat.

"I don't remember talking to anyone about this other than James, Remus and Peter!" He protested loudly.

"I would be amazed if you remembered. You were quite drunk when we talked. So drunk, in fact, that Horace was appalled by your behaviour and told me that he would never invite you again. A fourteen year old boy getting drunk in the presence of a teacher? Dumbledore didn't like that on bit."

Sirius waved that off. "Didn't like the man, anyway," he said. "He only approached me for the Slug Club because I was a Black, and if there's anything I hate, it's being associated with my family. But I can't believe you made your own Marauder's Map!"

"I made several of them, actually. And they were quite useful. But anyway, apparently Selene was already named before she was dropped off. Every person present in a safe house showed up as a dot, with their name above it, you see. And the dot of our new guest here said _"Selene"_."

"Wait!" Ginny said. "Harry, do you remember what happened right before we went to Sirius with Professor Lupin last Christmas? While we were on our way to his office?"

"Yeah, we ran into Fred and George," Harry said after a moment of thought. "Imagine if they found out I was taking their little sister to see mass murdering lunatic Sirius Black!"

"Hey!" Sirius protested

"Right, and they gave you an early Christmas present, didn't they?"

"I… Oh yeah, they did!"

"Did you ever unwrap it?"

"Bugger, no I didn't! I put it in my backpack. And then we had to flee from those Aurors, you know, and when we settled in here I just forgot about it."

"Hang on then," Ginny said and she bounced upstairs.

"Fred and George, Ginny's twin brothers, right?" Selene asked Harry.

"Yeah."

"I remember them. Did you know that they tried to follow you when you first went to Sirius during the Hogsmeade weekend around Halloween?"

"No," Harry said, surprised. "They must've seen Ginny and I leave Hogwarts, I guess."

"Yes, but how? You were under your Cloak, then, weren't you?"

"We were," Harry said. It was still unnerving, knowing that Selene had followed his every step for half a year. "And that wasn't the first time they saw me while I was under the cloak, either."

Ginny came downstairs again. She sat back down beside him, panting slightly, and laid a garishly wrapped package down on the table in front of him. It was thin as parchment, and a light went on in Harry's head as he started unwrapping it. Sirius muttered a curse when Harry uncovered a worn, yellowing piece of parchment.

"Is that…"

"The Marauder's Map?" Sirius finished for him, his voice trembling with excitement. "You know what to do, Harry. I told you the magic words last summer."

Harry pulled out his wand, tapped the parchment and said: "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

"Nice," Selene sniggered.

Ink appeared on the document and spread out across the parchment to form a sentence. Harry read it out loud: _"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP._ How in the world did they get this?"

"That's how they were able to follow you two when you went to Sirius!" Selene exclaimed. "They had a map of Hogwarts all this time!"

"Let me see it," Sirius demanded. Harry handed the parchment to him, and Sirius immediately disappeared behind the paper, seemingly oblivious to the world around him as he examined all the corridors on the map.

"Fred and George never told me about it," Ginny said then. "I knew they had something that helped them sneak around at night, but I never imagined it would be this."

"I'm amazed the charm hasn't worn off. I doubt the maps I made still work," Melchior said. "They're still in Britain, so I can't be absolutely sure about that, but-"

"Fuck me!" Sirius interrupted loudly. He shoved a few dishes to the side and laid the map down on the table. He pointed at one of the far corners of the document. "Here, look! In Hagrid's Hut!"

Everyone bent forward to look. Ginny gasped, Sirius growled, much like a dog, and Melchior muttered a curse. There, in Hagrid's Hut, not far from the dot that read _"Rubeus Hagrid"_ , was another dot.

It read _"Peter Pettigrew"_.


	10. Chapter 10: Leroy Jenkins

This was it. Their one chance of proving that Sirius was innocent and thus clearing his name, and indirectly Harry's too. Catch Pettigrew, and it was all over.

"I still can't believe Scabbers was Pettigrew all along," Ginny sighed. She said what was on everyone's mind at that moment.

Melchior first tried convincing them to wait and think it through a bit, but Sirius and Harry were having none of that. Especially Sirius was more than ready to go that same evening, but even Harry had to admit that that was a bit _too_ rash. Still, he could sympathize with Sirius' eagerness.

In the end they took their discussions and plotting well into the evening and spent the entirety of the next day, June 8th, planning out their move as best as they could.

They had two entranceways into Hogwarts: the Shrieking Shack and the secret tunnel that Harry and Ginny had found last fall. But Melchior was quick to point out the downside to the latter, namely that Harry was the only one who could access it. If Sirius and Ginny somehow split up from Harry, it would become completely useless to them. They weren't planning on splitting up at all, of course, but Melchior repeatedly told them there was always a very real possibility of that happening.

"Ginny and I can't cast a Patronus Charm, but Sirius' and Selene's should be enough to hold the Dementors off long enough, right?" Harry asked after a rushed dinner. Melchior wouldn't come with them. _"My back would only slow you down,"_ he said.

"Selene will not be going with you either," Melchior replied.

"What?" Sirius, Harry and Selene asked together.

"I said she's not going. I won't allow it."

"But we need her!" Harry argued, but Selene's protests were much louder than his.

"That's fucking bullshit! I was in Hogsmeade for _months_ and I fought Aurors in Paris! Why the fuck can't I go now?" She burst out and she rose up from her chair in fury. She looked threatening, dangerous, as she leaned over Melchior with her fists clenched.

"That was different, and you know it," Melchior said, unfazed. "If I knew you would be fighting Aurors, I wouldn't have sent you at all in the first place. And you weren't breaking the law in Hogsmeade. You were simply living there under a false name, nothing more."

"But-"

"No, Selene, listen to me. In this case you would be helping two highly wanted criminals get into one of the most tightly guarded areas of Wizarding Britain. They'll arrest you on the spot, and we can't have that, for many reasons. You know that." Melchior said calmly.

Selene ground her teeth together. "But I'm a grown-up! You can't force me!" She shouted after a moment of hesitation.

"She's right, you know," Sirius supplied.

"You stay out of this, Black!" Melchior bit out. He turned back to Selene. "You know damned well I can force you, and you know damned well why. Don't tell me you've forgotten."

"But…" She was silent. She then hissed at him, showing her teeth, and Harry thought for a moment she was actually going to attack the man. But Melchior calmly held her gaze until Selene was forced to look away.

"Fuck this!" She shouted. She stomped towards the front door with as much noise as she could, swearing in several different languages, somehow managed to pull on her shoes and jacket mid-march, and slammed the door shut behind her. Harry was surprised it didn't break from the force of the impact.

"It's been a long time since she last was this angry," Melchior said, filling the silence that Selene left behind. "She'll be back in a day or so, though. Don't worry."

"A day?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Yes. Do you remember about the various contacts I had outside of Britain? I still own those houses, and I granted Selene access to them a while back. It's not healthy for a young woman to stay cooped up in a shack, you know. It's best if she lets off some steam on her own before she comes back."

"And you're sure she'll be alright?" Sirius asked warily.

"Of course. But that's none of your business." And with that, the conversation was over.

Harry went to bed later that night, but he couldn't fall asleep. Their planning made him anxious, as did the fact that Pettigrew could flee Hogwarts whenever he wanted. The one chance for his and Sirius' acquittal could be out of their grasp again, and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Harry was sure that they would never have a chance like this ever again if they missed this one.

But despite that, what he thought about the most was Daphne.

Earlier today he made the mistake of mentioning her to the others. Melchior, Sirius and Ginny fell over themselves to tell Harry why he couldn't go to her while they were there. It was too risky; you don't know if she's being watched; you don't know if she's to be trusted; we can't afford to enter the castle itself… It was maddening.

He hadn't really had a chance to think about her too much the past few months, but now everything came crashing down around him and he was shocked at how much he missed her.

He missed flying and Quidditch, and he missed some of the people at Hogwarts, like Hagrid, Hermione, Fred and George, and Tracy Davis, who had always been kind to him, and of course Professor Lupin. But he missed Daphne so, so much more, and his heart ached at the thought of being so close to her tomorrow, yet so far away.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he wanted to talk to Selene about it.

Now that he thought about it, he was convinced that she was the only one who would actually listen to him and not dismiss him, like the others did earlier today: Ginny didn't trust Daphne, Melchior refused to allow Harry to put everything to risk just to see her again, and he still didn't know whether Sirius would take him seriously or just crack jokes about it.

Somewhere during his fretting he slipped into a restless sleep.

* * *

Harry stumbled downstairs the next day, still in his pyjamas and barely awake.

"Morning," Melchior said as Harry slumped in his seat next to Sirius. Harry mumbled something in reply, rubbed his eyes and grabbed some egg and toast.

"Here, have some bacon while you're at it," Melchior put some rashers on his plate. "You've probably got a very long day ahead of you. You'll need your strength."

"Oh, and to Harry you're supportive then?" Sirius suddenly snapped. He slammed his knife on the table. "Offering food and such? What, did you tell him night-time stories as well last night, then? Tuck him into bed while you're at it?"

Harry dropped his toast, shocked at this sudden outburst.

"Nothing's stopping you from doing so yourself, Sirius," Melchior bit out in an equally frosty tone. "And I've really got no choice but to be supportive. I know if I stop you three from leaving now, you'll just sneak away behind my back, so I'm allowing you to go. But that doesn't mean I endorse your plan. I believe I told you from day one that patience-"

"I know exactly what you said, enough with your stories," Sirius interrupted. "Fact is, Pettigrew's a rat in every sense. He'd flee at every sense of danger. We wait a few more days and we'll certainly have lost him."

"And is it worth risking your souls? The souls of your godson and his friend?"

Sirius gave Melchior a foul look in reply. The two men sighed almost in unison and got back to their breakfast. Harry looked from one man to the other, but, strangely, neither said anything anymore. Thoroughly confused, he resumed nibbling on his toast.

He then heard Ginny come downstairs behind him, but he was too tired to bother with greeting her. She flopped down next to Harry, and looked just as tired as he was. Yet she ate just as much as she did every day. Harry still wondered where she left all that food.

"Come on, Harry, you need to eat," Melchior urged him again. Harry nodded and tried to shove his thoughts aside. For a long time the only sound at the table was the ticking of cutlery and chewing noises.

"Selene's still away then?" Ginny asked, breaking through the silence.

"Yes, she is. I expected that, though, and she'll be back tonight, probably. It's best to let her vent for a while. You don't want this house to explode, do you?"

The ticking and chewing sounds stopped for just a moment.

"Is she that bad?" Harry asked.

"Yes, definitely. I thought that would have been clear by now. It's actually the most important reason why I don't want her to go with you today. Selene… She's a lovely girl, heart of gold, and I love her, but she's not completely right. You know how aggressive she can be."

Ginny rubbed her throat.

"But blow up the house she lives in?" Sirius pressed.

"Blow up this house? If she's emotional enough, she'd do it. Without second thought. I know her better than anyone, Sirius. I raised her myself."

"Raised her to your own psycho pet?" Sirius muttered.

"Sirius," Harry said warningly, but the words were already out. Melchior slammed his hands on the table, and he looked ready to murder Sirius on the spot.

"Stop acting like a child and be a man for once," he ground out.

"Ha!" Sirius barked, raising his chin challengingly. "That the best you've got? I'm more man than you've ever been. I could break your back with one bite, but you've already done it to yourself already."

Melchior stood up and Sirius immediately followed, chairs clattering to the floor behind them. Harry exchanged a worried look with Ginny.

"You are without a doubt the most egocentric, childish person I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. Look at you," Melchior spat. He raised his chin. "Constantly whining like a little puppy about me, the shelter I gave you and the meals I fed you. Too proud to even say 'thank you' once, and so desperate to get your old friend back that you've pulled his son to your own damn level: a hopeless, wanted criminal!"

"You shut your mouth before I do it for you!" Sirius shouted. Harry stood up and pulled out his wand. He saw Ginny do the same beside him. "You think I want that? You think I want Harry to be like me? Have you seen the fucking state I was in before? But I guess you know all too well what Harry needs, don't you? You've been playing daddy to him ever since the day we arrived here, you fucking-"

Harry had enough. He produced a loud bang from his wand, courtesy of Fred and George. Melchior and Sirius stopped their fight, Sirius mid-tirade and turned on him as one. The murderous look in their eyes made him falter. But Ginny took over.

"Right, both of you need to stop being such thick-headed idiots!" She put her hands on her hips and made an intimidating figure, despite her size. "Sirius, your one chance to prove your innocence is out there! Melchior, your daughter is out there because _you've_ chased her away and you're just sitting here and picking fights! Why?"

"She's not my daughter," Melchior argued, though in a much lower volume than before.

"She's all you have. Come on, Harry, you'll need to pack Sirius' bag as well. I don't think he'll be doing it himself." She grabbed his hand, and Harry found himself being dragged up the stairs a moment later. He had a brief glimpse of Sirius and Melchior looking at Ginny in shock, all their anger forgotten.

* * *

When he and Ginny arrived downstairs again a while later, their bags packed with bare necessities, Harry saw Sirius and Melchior sitting at opposite ends of the room, studiously ignoring each other. Harry cleared his throat, and they both looked up.

"Everything's ready," he said. His voice cracked, to his annoyance.

"Very well," Melchior said, his voice much softer than before. His knees popped loudly as he stood up from his sofa. "Gather round everyone."

They made a circle around the dining table. Harry handed Sirius his backpack and slung his own over his shoulder.

"Are you ready?" Melchior asked, looking at each of them intently. He then pulled out a small piece of black cloth, three grey stones with the size of a thumb, a glass jar with a few small air holes in it that was charmed to prevent Animagus transformations, and finally his wand. He handed them all a rock each, Harry the jar, and put the cloth on the table.

 _"Portus,"_ he said. The cloth glowed blue for a moment. "Now touch it. Not your whole hand, Harry, a finger should be enough."

He paused for a moment.

"You'll arrive in the Shrieking Shack. Your best chance to grab Pettigrew unseen is when that groundskeeper Hagrid's in the school for dinner. And whatever happens, you've all got your way back, provided you're not on the school grounds. I'll say it again, just to be sure: don't activate the Rock while you're inside Hogwarts' protections, because you don't want your mangled, torn body to be spread out between here and there. I've put a trace on all of you, so that we know where to find you if it does go wrong. If you need to escape, don't worry about being separated. Don't be noble and try to wait for the others, because that-"

"Yeah, yeah, come on, hurry up. He could sneak away at any moment," Sirius interrupted. Melchior breathed in deeply, probably to calm himself down, and then looked Harry straight in the eye.

"Ten seconds now. I'll be waiting at the Rock with the car. Stick to Sirius, and Harry, don't do anything rash. I know you-"

They didn't hear the rest of the sentence, because at that moment the portkey activated. Melchior and his house disappeared, and for a moment it was just the three of them, a strong pull on his navel and a whirling mess of colours surrounding them.

Then it was over. They were back in Britain.

Harry and Ginny landed on the wooden floor in a heap, but as Harry looked up, he saw Sirius still on his feet. They were in an old, dusty and utterly ravaged room, and Harry couldn't see anything that wasn't broken. Chairs, a table, wallpapers, the floorboards… everything was torn apart and covered in dust. An image of Professor Lupin trashing the room as a werewolf crossed his mind, and he shuddered.

"Fantastic landing," Sirius grinned. He helped the two children up and they dusted themselves off. The floorboards creaked under their feet.

Harry, in automatic fashion, almost pulled out his wand to make himself invisible, but remembered at the last second that they could be traced again here. _"No magic, unless it's an emergency,"_ Melchior had said a million times. Harry fished out his invisibility cloak instead, and hid himself and Ginny underneath it while Sirius changed into a dog.

True to their plan, they entered the tunnel beneath the rickety old shack and walked along its entire length. Even though they'd gone over every possible detail so many times, Harry was still surprised at how long it took to traverse the tunnel. And halfway through he started having doubts about the whole thing as well.

What if Sirius and Melchior were wrong, and the Dementors _did_ know that they'd entered the school grounds? What if Dumbledore or the Ministry had another way of knowing where they were? It was a much less spirited Harry that finally reached the other side.

They sat down near the entrance and Harry tried to make himself as comfortable as possible. They would be sitting here for half a day, maybe even longer. He was thankful that Sirius remembered to cast a warming charm on them beforehand. Even though it was the beginning of June, they were still underground and out of reach of the sun. A steady breeze came in through the opening by the Whomping Willow and sitting still on the cold, slightly moist ground wouldn't help much in keeping them warm either.

He was surprised, though, at the amount of feelings that welled up inside of him when he caught a glimpse of Hogwarts through the hole in the tree. He couldn't really make sense of it. He felt sad, and yet somehow very happy at the same time and he reckoned that this was what nostalgia felt like. Then there was that pull...

He studied the many towers that were basked in sunlight, and wondered behind which window Daphne was right now. He was now closer to her than he'd been the last five months, and he missed her so much it ached. He wanted to go into the castle right now to find her, apologise to her for not taking her with them last Christmas… kiss her. Hopefully she would accept his apology and come with them after all…

"Stop it," Ginny said from beside him.

"What?"

"I know what you're thinking, Harry. You can't go to her now." A small movement of Sirius' ears suggested he was listening in.

"I know," Harry grumbled. "You don't have to remind me of that _again_. One million times was just about enough."

"Oh, stop whining, Harry, you're not the only one. I miss my family, you know? My brothers are in there as well!"

Harry lifted his head up from his knees and looked at her in surprise.

"I hadn't thought about that," he said.

"I know," Ginny grumbled.

Sirius got up, trotted towards them, sniffed around a bit to find them despite their invisibility, and finally curled up against them and laid his head across Ginny's lap.

"Right," Harry said, scratching Sirius behind his ears. "But you'll see them soon enough when we catch Pettigrew."

"We will," Ginny said with confidence. "Have you got the map?"

"Yeah, it's right here," Harry pried the Marauder's Map from the pocket of his coat and activated it. After a moment of searching, he found what he was looking for.

"Hagrid's still in his hut, and so is Pettigrew. Now let's hope that Hagrid will leave soon."

But he didn't. In fact, the man's dot only moved once the whole afternoon, when he moved to the garden in front of his hut.

After an hour or so, a figure appeared at the entrance of the tunnel. Harry and Ginny pulled out their wands as one, and Sirius got up, growling. Harry had his wand pointed at the figure in an instant, ready to cast a stunning spell. If they were caught now...

But then Sirius relaxed and gave Harry and Ginny a reassuring, happy look. The figure entered the tunnel and trotted towards them, its ruddy hairs and ugly, squashed face now clearly visible in the sunlight.

It was Crookshanks, Hermione's cat.

He and Sirius greeted each other by touching snouts and then sniffing each other's butts. Then they crawled under the cloak and lay down against Harry and Ginny. Harry went back to scratching Sirius, Ginny stroked Crookshanks' back. They shared a smile underneath the cloak. _Of course_ it was Crookshanks.

When Harry saw Hermione for the first time after last summer holidays for their first studying session in the library, she wasted no time in telling Harry all about the cat that she'd bought in Diagon Alley during the summer.

Listening to Hermione describe the animal, Harry assumed it was a beautiful, graceful and incredibly smart cat. When he saw the cat sneak around the halls at night a few days later (Harry was doing the very same), his mental image of the animal was shattered.

But he couldn't deny that the cat was smart. In fact, when Harry and Ginny visited Sirius during the Hogsmeade weekend around Halloween, Sirius told them he'd made friends with an ugly, but very smart cat during his trips around the school grounds as a dog. That was when Crookshanks came trotting into their cave, as if he knew they were talking about him.

In the end, Harry never told Hermione about the secret life of her cat. After all, she was just his highly annoying, but incredibly useful study partner.

It was around four o'clock, according to Harry's watch, when Sirius made a strange, whiny sound. He changed into his human form again, and quickly lifted his head from Ginny's lap. Harry stopped scratching behind his ear just as quickly.

"Walden Macnair!" He hissed, pointing at the courtyard on the Marauder's Map. Harry and Ginny (who was still blushing), looked closer at the map. "What's that sodding bastard doing here?"

"Who's Walden Macnair?" Harry asked. He leaned back as much as he could. It was very crowded underneath the cloak at the moment.

"A bloody Death Eater, that's what he is. Escaped prosecution by claiming he was under the Imperious Curse, just like Malfoy did. Why would he be here?"

They didn't have to wait long to know the answer.

"Hey, look," Ginny said a while later. Harry, who was dozing off whilst leaning against the wall of the tunnel, returned to the present again. He looked at where Ginny was pointing.

"Hermione and Ron?" He asked. "Oh, look, there's Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe." The dots met each other in front of the castle and didn't move for a while. Eventually, Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe returned to the castle.

"Hermione and Ron are going to Hagrid's!" Harry said. "Hermione went there a few times, you know, with Buckbeak's hearing just before we left, but Ron's never been there before, has he?"

"Dunno, Maybe that changed while we were away?" Ginny pondered. She then very abruptly turned to look at Harry, with a gleam in her eyes. "What if they're boyfriend and girlfriend now?" She asked eagerly.

"But they fight all the time!" Harry protested.

"They're heading inside. Oh no…" Sirius groaned. Pettigrew's dot moved until it almost merged with Ron's.

"That moron!" Harry growled. "He's going to ruin everything!"

"Wait," Sirius said. "Look who's coming: Dumbledore, Macnair and Fudge! And they're all going to Hagrid's too! What's happening?"

"Well, there's only one thing where the Minister needs to be at Hagrid's hut, isn't there?" Ginny said.

"Yeah, they're about to throw the strangest party ever," Harry said sarcastically. "Hey, why don't be pop in as well? The set would be complete!"

Ginny regarded him contemptuously.

"Oh," Harry realized. "Right, that."

"What are you two on about?" Sirius asked.

"Remember Buckbeak?" Harry asked him. Sirius nodded. "Well, they're probably about to execute him. Hagrid's lost the hearing."

"That's probably why Ron and Hermione were there, then," Ginny said solemnly. "Hermione did say she was going to help Hagrid defend Buckbeak, didn't she?

Maybe she wanted to say goodbye… Oh, look, they're leaving again."

"Right, sod this," Sirius said, making Harry and Ginny look up from the map. "You two wait here. I'm going to fetch our rat."

And then he was a dog again, and he disappeared through the hole before they could stop him. Crookshanks was on his heels, and he pressed his front paws against that specific knot on the bark of the Whomping Willow, momentarily freezing the tree and allowing Sirius to run away from the tree unharmed. Harry and Ginny crawled towards the entrance of the tree and watched how Sirius waited in the shadows until Hermione and Ron were not too far away from the Willow.

"How is he going to steal Pettigrew away from Ron?" Harry asked. "He's not going to change back into his human form, is he?"

"He'd better not," Ginny mumbled beside him.

He didn't. Sirius ran towards the pair, took Ron's leg between his jaws and dragged him towards the Willow, Ron's screaming clearly audible. Crookshanks pressed the tree again when Sirius got close, and Harry and Ginny stepped aside when he entered the hole underneath the tree. He didn't stop there, though, but dragged Ron further into the tunnel.

"He'd better not have hurt Ron," Ginny said angrily. "Honestly, what was he thinking?"

"Come on, we can't stay here," Harry said, pulling Ginny along by her sleeve. Harry took a moment to dispel the Marauder's Map, and then they set off, jogging through the tunnel as fast as the low ceiling allowed, still hearing Ron shout in anguish further ahead. Sirius, even with his baggage, was much faster than them, and when they finally arrived in the Shrieking Shack, there was already a trail of blood going upstairs. Ginny grimaced at the sight, but Harry felt little sympathy towards Ron. He was always the loudest among the Gryffindors who taunted him, and just now he had almost ruined their chances of catching Pettigrew.

They ran upstairs and entered what once was a living room. Ron was cowering in a particularly dusty corner, whimpering and clutching his leg, and Sirius stood over him, still in his Animagus form. Harry was about to pull off his cloak when they heard a sound downstairs and moments later, Hermione showed up in the wrecked door opening. Her hair was bushier than ever before and she looked around the room in panic, still panting from running all the way through the tunnel.

"Ron!" She shouted when she saw him. She pointed her wand at Sirius, but Harry was quicker.

 _"Expelliarmus!"_ He shouted. Only then did he remember that he could have casted that silently. Hermione whirled around to see Harry pull the cloak off him and Ginny and catch her wand deftly.

Sirius changed into himself again immediately.

"Harry! You've activated the Trace!" He moaned.

"She was going to curse you, Sirius! Bloody hell, Hermione, what were you thinking?"

"Harry?" Hermione asked bewilderedly. She backed away until she bumped against one of the deteriorated walls. In panic, she looked around for any ways of escaping, and Crookshanks chose that moment to come trotting into the room, completely at ease. He immediately went towards Sirius and rubbed his head against his leg affectionately. Hermione stared at her cat in shock.

 _"Ginny!"_ Ron cried. He tried to get up, but his leg didn't allow it. He yelped and adjusted his grip on his leg. Sirius whirled around and raised his wand at Ron.

"Ron!" Ginny ran towards him and kneeled down beside him. "I think I can heal that, hang on…"

"Ginny, we don't have much time right now," Sirius said. "Grab Pettigrew, and…"

"Don't you talk to her, Black! Stay away from her!" Ron now shouted. He tried to put himself between Sirius and Ginny, but Ginny stopped him from moving.

"Ron, they're both innocent. Now lie still, you'll only hurt yourself more!"

"Ginny!" Sirius pressed. "Get that rat!"

"Harry? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked. She looked very small, backed away in the corner like that, with her hands against the wall beside her.

"We're here to prove that Sirius is innocent," Harry replied shortly. The Dementors were now probably closing in on them, along with all the Aurors and Dumbledore. It was like a net slowly tightening around them.

"Ginny, we need to go, _now!_ " He urged.

"Right, right! Ron, where's Scabbers?" Ginny asked. She hadn't been able to heal Ron's leg yet.

"Scabbers?" Ron spluttered.

"Yes, Scabbers. Hagrid gave him to you just now, didn't he? Where is he?"

"How d'you know that? And why would you want Scabbers?"

"Honestly, Ron! Do you _have_ to play the idiot? You _always_ do that at the most-"

"Ginny!" Sirius interrupted. "You can pick fights with your brother later, get on with it!"

"Right, sorry," Ginny said, and she started rummaging through Ron's pockets without further comment, despite his ardent protests. A few moments later she fished the rat out of one of the pockets of her brother's Hogwarts robes. He was thrashing wildly in her grasp and squeaked loudly.

"No! What are you going to do to him? Why Scabbers?" Ron moaned in despair.

"Harry, the jar!" Sirius said, looking more agitated than ever. Harry ran over to Ginny, grabbed the magical jar from his coat, and together they managed to squeeze Pettigrew into it. Harry screwed the lid on it and breathed a sigh of relief. That was one part done. Now they had to leave.

"We can teleport to the Rock from here," he said. "Shall we?"

"But what about Ron?" Ginny asked. "His leg's broken, and I can't heal it!"

"Who in the bloody hell cares!" Sirius cried. "The Dementors are coming, Ginny! I'm not going to get Kissed because of one broken leg!"

"But we can't just-" The thundering sound of someone running up the stairs made them all stop and look around.

It was Remus Lupin who appeared in the doorway, panting loudly, clutching his heart and leaning against the doorframe.

Sirius shouted something and rushed over towards his friend, and tackled him in a hug.

"Remus, my friend! How did you know we were here?" he asked, pulling back from their embrace.

"I saw a black dog disappearing underneath the Willow, friend. I don't need any more hints to know that you're here," Professor Lupin said, grinning.

Sirius let out a barking laugh. "Oh, Remus, have I missed you. Come on, we were just leaving, and look-"

"Yeah, well you'd better do that fast then," Professor Lupin interrupted. "They were about to execute that Hippogriff when a group of Aurors came. They must've known somehow that you're here, because the last thing I saw before I went into the tunnel was Fudge running off, and I heard Dumbledore saying he was going to fetch the Dementors."

"I cast a spell," Harry said. "They must've noticed."

"Damn," Remus swore.

"And Buckbeak?" Hermione asked quickly.

"Still alive, I think."

Harry met Ginny's gaze. His heart was racing, his hands were shaking and his stomach felt dreadfully heavy. They were running on borrowed time, but he saw that Ginny had the same plan as he did.

"It's perfect!" Sirius cried. "Come on, you two head back with Pettigrew and I'll get that beast."

"No way. You're not going alone," Harry said.

"Harry, remember what Melchior said-"

"He called you egocentric and childish," Harry retorted. He ignored the confused stares of the others in the room.

"Good point," Sirius acknowledged. "Very well, then. Remus? What about you?"

"You've got Peter, then?" He asked. Harry held up the jar containing the rat. Professor Lupin eyed it with a look of pure abhorrence, then he cleared his throat.

"I was here for my monthly transformation and to my surprise I found Hermione and Ron here, but Sirius, Harry and Ginny were already gone. That should cover us all." Sirius opened his mouth to argue but Professor Lupin cut him off with a wave of his hand. "No, Sirius, we've already discussed this. I'll only be a danger to you if I come with you. I'm transforming tonight!" Sirius deflated and nodded, downcast.

"What about Ron and me?" Hermione asked. Harry gave her back her wand. She accepted it and smiled wanly at him.

"You were kidnapped by the evil Harry Potter, Sirius Black and Ginny Weasley, but they kindly let you live," Ginny said.

Ron stared at her like he'd never seen her before.

"They… they didn't kidnap you, then?" He asked her.

"No. They're innocent." Ginny replied. She hesitated. "Say… say hello to the others, will you? I miss you all." And at that moment, she briefly looked like a scared little girl.

Ron swallowed, and then nodded at her.

"Good luck," Professor Lupin said, and he hugged the three of them as they left the room.

"We'll see you soon," Ginny called back, but Harry didn't look back once, and moments later he, Ginny, and Sirius ran as fast as they could through the tunnel, towards Hogwarts again.

It all seemed perfect a moment ago: they would save Buckbeak and immediately go back to Melchior again. Then they would handle Pettigrew, Sirius would be acquitted and the three of them could finally live a normal life again.

But they weren't there yet.

"We might as well use magic, right?" Ginny asked between her panting. "They know we're here anyway."

"Probably," Harry puffed. "Disillusion ourselves, then?"

"Yeah. The cloak's useless for running."

They disillusioned themselves whilst running, and Sirius changed into a dog mid-stride. Mercifully, they didn't encounter anyone in the tunnel, only Crookshanks, who sprinted ahead of them. Harry wondered for a moment what Hermione would think of her cat after today.

"We're really doing this, are we?" Ginny asked the others when the tunnel began sloping upwards.

"Don't think about it, Ginny," Harry panted. "And please don't make me think about it, either."

Finally, they reached the end. Crookshanks went out of the hole first to freeze the tree, then Sirius and finally Harry and Ginny stumbled over the thick roots into the daylight. The sun was setting, and that gave them a rather annoying glare as they sprinted down the grassy hill towards Hagrid's hut. Harry saw no sign of the Aurors or Dementors. They were probably at the Shrieking Shack now, but that didn't do much to allay Harry's fears. He'd seen how fast Dementors could be during the Quidditch match last fall.

Sirius arrived at the hut much earlier than Harry and Ginny. When Harry finally halted in Hagrid's front garden he saw Buckbeak, securely chained to a large wooden pole. He lay on the ground, but eyed the mutt that was prancing around in the front yard intently. Hagrid was nowhere to be seen, and when Harry peeked into the groundskeeper's hut, he saw that it was empty.

"How do we get him to come with us?" Ginny asked, very close to him. Harry jumped at the sudden, disembodied voice. He tried to calm down and looked around. There, next to the hut. A pile of dead ferrets. He remembered the first lesson of Care for Magical Creatures, when Hagrid lead them to a clearing in the forest, a large amount of dead ferrets slung over his massive shoulder.

"The ferrets," he mumbled to no one in particular. He ran towards the pile, careful not to step on the small plants in Hagrid's kitchen garden, batted Sirius away, who was sniffing the carcases, and ran back towards Buckbeak. Harry remembered just in time why Buckbeak was in this position in the first place: Malfoy ignoring Hagrid's warning and not respecting the proud animal. It didn't end well for him.

Harry looked around for any sign of life. Hagrid was nowhere to be seen, for some reason, but more importantly, neither were the Aurors and Dementors. The hill towards the castle was completely deserted.

"Did you hear that?" Ginny asked from beside him.

"Hear what?" Harry asked.

"Never mind."

Harry looked around for any sign of life one last time, and then cancelled his disillusionment charm.

Buckbeak made a surprised noise and immediately sprung to his feet. Harry controlled his shaking body and bowed down towards him, not once breaking eye contact. He could almost hear Ginny holding her breath as they waited for Buckbeak to react, and he had to resist looking around to see if the coast was still clear. Finally, just when Harry thought he couldn't handle it anymore, the Hippogriff sank into an elegant bow.

He breathed out shakily and threw a ferret at Buckbeak, remembering how Hagrid had fed him. Buckbeak caught it, swallowed it in one go and then looked hungrily at the other carcases Harry was holding.

"Not yet, Buckbeak," Harry said to him. His voice cracked. He sounded stupidly frightened, he thought.

He slowly edged closer to the animal, feeding it another ferret to be safe, and then tried to loosen the chains.

"I'm going to reveal myself too, Harry, be careful," Ginny said from somewhere behind him. Buckbeak made a very affronted noise when yet _another_ person appeared out of thin air, but he didn't lash out. Harry tried to mollify him with another ferret. He still had five left. He paused for a moment until Buckbeak had bowed to Ginny as well, and then continued again.

"C'mon, hurry up!" Ginny said.

"I'm trying!" Harry said. "Here, you take the ferrets. I need both my hands for this." He fed another one to Buckbeak and tossed the bundle of the remaining ones towards her. She barely caught them.

Try as he might, Harry was unable to dislodge the chains. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, there was a knot he couldn't loosen and the large and heavy rings proved very annoying to deal with. He sneered and swore under his breath.

He pulled and pulled, and pulled again, but it was no use at all. He looked at Buckbeak, trying to gauge his mood.

The Hippogriff was looking back at him in curiosity, probably wondering what that human was doing, but he didn't look distressed at all. If only Harry felt the same. He slowly pulled his wand out and aimed it at the chains. Praying it wouldn't scare Buckbeak too much, he waved his wand in a controlled fashion and thought: _"Reducto"._

The rings of the chain burst apart with a loud _"clang!"_ that sounded much too loud. Harry had no doubt that someone had heard that.

Buckbeak gave an indignant cry, but thankfully didn't do more than ruffle his feathers and whip his tail around a bit. Harry fumbled a bit more with the chains, and then finally they came loose from the stake.

"Got it!" He shouted triumphantly. Ginny cheered and Sirius barked excitedly.

"C'mon, Beaky," Harry urged the hippogriff. He walked in the direction of the Forbidden Forest and pulled on the chain, intent on leaving the Hogwarts grounds as quickly as possible so that they could return to Melchior. But Buckbeak didn't want to leave. He braced his front legs and raised his chest, a stance that clearly said: _"No. I stay here."_

Harry gritted his teeth in annoyance, turned around and pulled on the chain with all his strength, leaning forward to try and make the animal move using his body weight, but it was no use at all. The dark edge of the forest never looked more enticing. Sirius growled, probably just as agitated as Harry was.

"Try and lure him with the ferrets, Ginny," he said. No reply. He turned around. Ginny wasn't the only one there anymore.

His heart sank when he saw a large group of Aurors standing there on the edge of Hagrid's garden. Harry couldn't see how many, twelve, thirteen? There were far, far too many. One held Ginny by the arms; all the others had their wands pointed at Harry, Buckbeak and Sirius.

Buckbeak edged away from the group towards Harry, and stood in front of him protectively.

"She's struggling, sir," the man holding Ginny said.

"Stun her," one of the Aurors commanded. He had long, greying hair that looked like manes of a lion. His eyes looked yellow as well in the setting sun. "They might have put her under the Imperius curse, or given her a potion."

"Let her go!" Harry shouted. He pointed his wand at the group, and all the Aurors gripped their own wands more firmly.

One of the men next to Ginny put his wand against the side of her head and cast a stunning spell. She stopped struggling and slumped in her captor's arms.

"Harry Potter, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Ginevra Weasley, for assaulting a Hogwarts Professor, for helping a wanted fugitive remain hidden from the Ministry and a very long list of other crimes. Now, put the wand away, and step away from the Hippogriff," the man who seemed to be the leader called. His voice was calm, commanding.

Harry was about to shout a retort, but he was distracted by Sirius taking the sleeve of his coat in his mouth and tugging on it. Harry understood the hint. He took a step backwards and tugged the chain in his hand. Buckbeak edged away as well, but didn't once turn his back on the Aurors.

"Sir!" One of the Aurors said. "That dog! It's the Grim!"

Harry could almost feel the ripple of fear that passed through the group of Aurors. He used the brief distraction to edge away even further. He looked behind him. It was too far. His best chance was probably to climb on Buckbeak and fly away, but that wasn't a good chance at all.

"Don't move!" One of the Aurors shouted.

"Stay in your Animagus form, and we run when I say so," Harry hissed at Sirius from the corner of his mouth. He was afraid that the moment Sirius changed back into himself would be the moment when the Aurors stopped waiting and started fighting. A bead of sweat slowly crawled down his neck. He looked at Ginny's unconscious form and hoped that when she woke up she would understand that this was the last thing he wanted to do.

"NOW! _PROTEGO!_ " Harry cried, and pandemonium broke loose.

An almost solid, shimmering shield bloomed before him, Buckbeak staggered, Sirius sprinted away towards the forest and the Aurors immediately started firing curses. But Harry stood his ground. Curses and spells impacted his shield, collided with each other, some hitting Buckbeak after they were deflected. But Harry stood his ground.

He felt that same energy course through his veins, just like Melchior taught him. He felt that energy flow through him, and out through his wand and into the shield.

But it wasn't enough. Harry's hands were slippery from the sweat, he felt tired, and more and more cracks started forming in his shield. Harry gripped his wand tighter and willed himself to remain standing, even though everything inside him screamed for relief. He clenched his jaw and jabbed his wand at the shield… and to his surprise the shield _grew._

Despite the barrage of curses, despite his tired body, the shield crystallized before his very eyes. The Aurors and their curses and spells became a blurry mess behind the translucent shield, the cracks retreated the same way they came, and Harry's heart soared at the sight. He didn't understand how, but it wasn't over yet.

He straightened his back, spanned the muscles in his wand-arm and felt for Buckbeak's feathers with his other hand. He felt the warm feathers between his fingers, but didn't once avert his gaze from his shield spell.

His thoughts raced. He had to get on the Hippogriff's back now, but how could he do that without breaking his shield? He couldn't. There was nothing else to do than to remove the charm, climb on Buckbeak's back as fast as he could, and simply wish for the best.

He counted to three in his head, hesitated for just a moment, and then, with one last burst of strength, he broke the spell. He felt the energy from before drain from his body, but he paid no mind to that as he jumped onto the staggering beasts' back. Something singed a lock of his hair, and he closed his eyes as he felt Buckbeak spread his wings, turn away from the Aurors, and finally they lifted up into the air. Harry was amazed that no spell had hit him.

He opened his eyes dared to look behind him. The Aurors were still firing curses at him but there was already a rapidly growing distance between them and Harry, and their spellcasting weren't accurate enough to hit him or Buckbeak. He saw Ginny, still unmoving, but he didn't see a sign of Sirius anywhere. He hoped he had managed to flee as well.

Even though he was out of range of the Aurors and now soaring high above the treeline, he didn't feel at ease in the slightest. Ginny was taken, Sirius was missing and the Ministry now knew where he was and would surely be able to trace him. It was hopeless.

He didn't even know if he could transport Buckbeak with him to the Rock, but if he could, he doubted the Hippogriff would take being transported over hundreds of miles in a few seconds too well. He'd already seen what those claws could do, and he didn't want to be torn to shreds.

And what about Ginny? Who knew what the Aurors were doing to her now. They might be taking her straight to the Ministry, like Melchior said, and there they would pump her full of Veritaserum. Then she would confess to opening the Chamber of Secrets, and she would be thrown into Azkaban immediately, where she would be rotting until she was either insane or dead. And Sirius was gone too, but how could one person shake off an entire team of Aurors? And it was getting so cold now…

He gasped and looked around him. The sky, once cloud-free and full of colours caused by the sunset, was now dark, steely grey, with swirling clouds looming threateningly above him. Harry's tired fingers grew numb with the cold, and it became even harder to hold onto Buckbeak's feathers. He looked ahead of him again when Buckbeak cried out in distress.

Dementors. Dozens of them, crowding the steely-grey sky. They didn't seem in a hurry, floating eerily in the air like that, because they knew without a doubt that their prey had nowhere to go. Buckbeak turned right to avoid the flock of creatures, but there were even more there. Harry looked around him, but there were Dementors everywhere around them. They were surrounded, and utterly trapped.

He heard screaming, and knowing who it was, he almost welcomed it.

 _"Not Harry! Please, not Harry!"_

Buckbeak changed the beat his wings to slow down and cried out in distress.

 _"Stand aside, stupid girl, come on, stand aside…"_

Buckbeak swayed up and down on the spot in mid-air. Jumping off now was no use. Although Harry could still faintly make out the branches beneath them, he would certainly not survive the drop. He tried to think, but the mist inside his head numbed him completely.

 _"No, not Harry, please! Take me, kill me-"_

Harry buried his head between Buckbeak's feathers and clung onto him tightly, willing himself to not succumb to the Dementors and escape…

The Rock. He dared to let Buckbeak go with his right hand, dug into the pockets of his coat, and found the little stone that was his escape.

 _"Not Harry! Please… mercy… mercy…"_

He wanted to get away from here. He wanted to be safe, he wanted it to end. And that was when he felt himself be pulled away, to safety.


	11. Chapter 11: Awry

Madam Pomfrey finally disappeared into her office. Ginny laid her head on her pillow and closed her eyes.

She sighed. Despite everything, she was very comfortable. The pillow underneath her head was soft and cool, but her body was wrapped in a warm, clean blanket. Her feet weren't cold for once, and that felt fantastic.

But she still felt terrible. She was caught. At least the Aurors hadn't brought her to the Ministry straight away, but it would surely be only be a matter of time before they would take her to the Ministry to interrogate her. And then it would be over for her.

When Ginny first woke up in her bed in the Hospital Wing, she panicked completely. She didn't know where she was, and simply assumed the worst. Madam Pomfrey, who was not nearly the only one present at that moment, took that as a sign of trauma from her time of captivity and immediately sent Dumbledore, Snape and the Aurors away, insisting that Ginny needed to rest for now. She still didn't understand why Snape was there as well.

She felt very grateful to the Matron at that moment. But then she started feeding her potion after potion, one more foul-tasting than the other, and then she started firing a barrage of questions: were you fed? Did they hit you? Were you allowed to go outside? As if that wasn't bad enough, Madam Pomfrey then went on to ask her even more ridiculous questions without batting an eye: Did they touch you anywhere? Were you raped? Are you pregnant? That was when Ginny had enough, and she started shouting at the woman.

Madam Pomfrey left not much later, after she failed to make Ginny drink a Sleeping Draught. Ginny simply refused to open her mouth after that awful interrogation, and Madam Pomfrey only made her angrier when she merely smiled at her and acted kindly and understanding. Ginny _hated_ being treated like that. Like she was a child.

The matron then put the potion down on the bedside table, promised her she'd see her family tomorrow morning, and then left for her office on the opposite end of the Hospital Wing.

Ginny looked away from the ceiling and out of the window at the other side of the wing. The sun had already gone down, but there was still a washed-out, pink glow on the horizon. She would be seeing her family soon, but as much as she wanted, she couldn't bring herself to be happy with that.

Because Harry and Sirius were still out there, chased down by Aurors and Dementors if they weren't caught already. And the Aurors had emptied her pockets while she was stunned. She still had her wand, but that didn't matter at the moment. Those Aurors had apparently found her piece of the Rock. So even if Harry and Sirius did manage to flee back to Melchior, they were still in danger…

The door to the Hospital Wing opened a fraction, a shadowy figure stepped in and the door closed again. Ginny narrowed her eyes to see who it was, but she couldn't see enough in the rapidly darkening Hospital Wing. Whoever the person was, they were small, moved with small steps, and as they got closer, Ginny could see the elegant black and green Slytherin robes she was wearing, her long, wavy brown hair, her pale skin and her brown eyes that had about the same colour as hers.

It was Daphne Greengrass.

"Greengrass?" Ginny asked. The girl stopped next to her bed.

"Weasley," Greengrass said. She didn't look at ease at all and she kept standing there beside her bed, ignoring the chair that was only a few steps away from her. Maybe she was just as worried about Harry as she was.

"How are you?" The girl asked.

"Shite," Ginny replied. She propped her pillow up against her headrest and sat up in her bed.

"You were rescued by Aurors, weren't you?" Greengrass asked, fidgeting her hands.

"They captured me," Ginny corrected her. "How do you know?"

"How do I know? All of Hogwarts knows! Harry Potter was on the school grounds, accompanied with a Grim, and then he escaped on the back of a Hippogriff that should have been executed. And at the same time Aurors managed to rescue you from them! That's big news, I'll say." After spending half a year with Selene, Melchior, Sirius and Harry, Greengrass' accent sounded annoyingly posh.

"And you're apparently still alive and unharmed." The girl said that in a measured tone. It sounded a lot like a question.

Ginny stared at the other girl for a moment. "Do you really think Harry and Sirius kidnapped me?"

"They didn't?"

"No, of course they didn't! How could you even _think_ that?" Ginny exclaimed.

The effect that had on Greengrass was immediate. She let out a breath, hung her head, and now she finally sat down in the chair.

"You thought Harry'd gone evil, didn't you?" Ginny asked, not bothering to hide the accusatory tone.

"No!" Greengrass said forcefully. "I mean, I hoped… it was all so confusing when you disappeared, and everyone here is so convinced that Harry's gone dark…"

"So you'd rather believe the lies of the newspapers than your own boyfriend?" Ginny pressed.

"It wasn't just the newspapers! I mean it when I say everyone, Weasley! Even the Headmaster thought so. And my mum and dad, and…" She briefly dropped her gaze to her lap. Then she met Ginny's eyes, and she looked utterly heartbroken. "… He _left_ me." She sniffed once and a tear rolled down her cheek. Ginny was afraid she would start crying in earnest.

Neither girl said anything. Daphne took deep breaths, sniffed a few times, but she looked determined to get herself under control again.

"I can't stay long," she eventually said. She swallowed. "I told no one about me and Harry, and that will stay that way."

"Why are you here, then?" Ginny asked.

"I…" Daphne fidgeted her hands again. "I wanted to… Harry's going to come back for you."

"Really?"

"Of course he is!" Daphne said. "Do you honestly believe that Harry Potter of all people wouldn't save his girlfriend? You're a lucky girl, Weasley."

"I'm not his girlfriend," Ginny blurted. Daphne froze and looked at her so hopefully that it tore at her heart. It only now occurred to her she could have lied about that.

"But you were with him the whole time?"

"Yes."

"And you never…" Ginny shook her head. Daphne wiped her eyes and smiled briefly. "Well, erm, anyway, when he comes back…" She fished something out of the folds of her elegant, luxurious robes and held it out to her. "... Could you give this to him?"

It was a letter. Ginny took it from her and examined it. It was a very heavy, very thick and slightly yellowing envelope, and on the front, written with pretty handwriting, stood: _"Harry"._

The _"a"_ was a love heart.

Ginny stared at the letter for a while as she tried to reign in the flood of emotions that welled up inside her.

None of this was fair. It just wasn't fair at all. She saw Daphne, with her beautiful features, who didn't have to wear ill-fitting, worn-out hand-me-downs, and who was almost two years older than her, more developed… untainted.

"I will," Ginny said. She didn't know if that was a lie.

"Oh, thank you, Ginny! Thank you so much!" Daphne stammered, looking as if she wanted to jump up from the chair and hug her. Ginny had a foul taste in her mouth. She swallowed.

"So you still fancy him?" She asked carefully.

"There isn't a day when I don't think about him," Daphne sighed wistfully. Ginny's heart sank.

"What about Malfoy?"

Any trace of happiness promptly left Daphne. "Don't speak of him," she snapped. "Draco is an arrogant, spoiled little brat, and Harry is already ten times the man that Draco will ever be." She tried to sound fierce, but the effect was undone by the tremble in her voice. She slumped in her seat and gripped her hair with both hands. Ginny waited for her to speak again and started fidgeting the bedsheets, just to have something on her hands. It was very awkward.

"I _know_ why father did it," she finally said, looking up again. Her eyes shone in the dim light and she looked close to crying again. "I _know_ the Dark Lord will return. All the signs are there. He failed last year with you, but he will succeed eventually. And Father wants me to be safe. And Mother, and my little sister, so he… he…" She finally broke. She sobbed loudly, covered her face in her hands and stormed out of the Hospital Wing without further comment. Ginny could hear her wailing until the door closed behind her.

* * *

Buckbeak shrilled in fury and staggered, and Harry lost his grip on the feathers. He fell on the ground so hard it forced all the air out of his lungs, but he kept his eyes closed waiting for Buckbeak's claws to start ripping him apart…

But that never happened. He thought he heard someone shout and he felt two hands slip underneath his back and pull him away. The stones and branches on the ground felt quite hard on his back and bum, but the after-effects of the Dementors felt much worse. He was nauseous, chilled to the core and all he wanted to do was get in bed, pull the duvet over him entirely and hide from everything underneath it.

"It's over now, Harry," Sirius said close to his ear. "Open your mouth, you need to eat some chocolate."

Harry didn't have it in him to convince him that he was fine. He opened his mouth and Sirius shoved a chunk of chocolate in his mouth. Harry chewed, and he felt the hopelessness and weakness from the Dementors ebb away while the chocolate melted on his tongue.

He opened his eyes and blinked a few times to get used to the bright light. They were in the clearing around the Rock again. He saw Melchior bowing towards a seething Buckbeak, although that stance didn't look far from how the man normally stood. Buckbeak, maybe realizing his life was saved twice just minutes ago, grudgingly bowed towards Melchior as well.

Harry looked at Sirius now, and he felt a little trepidation as he saw his godfather's angry look.

"When you said that we should run, I thought you would come with me, not stay behind and try to fight twelve Aurors on your own," he said in a tight voice.

"Sorry," Harry muttered.

"You were all alone there! Against all those Aurors! What were you thinking?"

"I dunno," Harry said downcast.

Sirius raised his finger and looked him straight in the eye. "Never, _ever_ , do something stupid like that again. You hear me?"

Harry nodded demurely.

"Good."

Melchior, now done with calming down Buckbeak, hurried over to them. Harry sat up.

"Sirius told me about Ginny already," he said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine."

Melchior nodded, and he and Sirius helped Harry to his feet.

"The tracking charm works," Melchior said. "Ginny's still at Hogwarts, which means that they still think she's a victim. My guess is that we probably still have at least a few days before she is summoned to the Ministry. There's a good chance she'll be taken to her home in the meantime, but that's a worry for later."

Harry nodded. "And now?"

"We go back to my house for now. You two need to eat and rest before we continue."

Melchior gave Buckbeak an assessing look.

"Sirius, I want you to fly Buckbeak back to the house. That beast is probably smart enough to know the way on his own, so you'll be fine."

"Why me?" Sirius asked.

"I want to have a little talk with Harry."

Sirius gave Melchior a strange look, but he said nothing.

"See you in a bit, Sirius," Harry said.

"It's going to be alright, Harry," Sirius said. "We'll see Ginny soon again. You'll see." He patted Harry on the shoulder and they parted, Sirius walking towards Buckbeak, Harry and Melchior walking towards the Range Rover that was parked at the edge of the clearing.

Harry slid into the passenger seat and watched Sirius and Buckbeak take off and quickly disappear behind the trees. At the same time, Melchior turned the ignition and the engine roared to life. Harry felt the jar containing Pettigrew pressing against his leg, and felt relieved that at least that part had gone well.

"Could you hand me Pettigrew?" Melchior asked. Harry handed him the jar. Pettigrew was scratching the glass furiously and Harry could hear him squeak through the air holes. Melchior waved his wand over the jar and the squeaking stopped. He then slipped it into the pocket of his robes.

"Don't worry about that rat for now. We can't hear him, and he can't hear us."

"Okay. Is Selene back yet?" Harry asked.

"No," Melchior said. He scratched the back of his head. "She'll be back, though. Now, tell me. How in the world did you manage to escape from those Aurors?"

The corners of Harry's mouth twitched. "I think I'm getting a bit good at those shield charms," he said. His smile grew into a grin. He couldn't help it. The fact that he managed to fight off 12 Aurors at the same time started to dawn on him.

"What happened exactly?"

Harry recounted the events as best as he could.

"Hmm, strange," Melchior said. Harry would have hoped he would be given a compliment, but he should have known better. "For one thirteen-year-old boy to fight off twelve Aurors, it's…"

"Brilliant?" Harry suggested.

"Yes, you could say that," Melchior said. He smiled absently. "Let's move on for now, then. Did you expect our little plan to go off without a hitch?" He started driving uphill through the forest.

"Capturing Pettigrew? Erm…" Of course Melchior wanted him to analyse the action immediately. He always did. "I was worried. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time something bad happened in my life, would it?" Harry said, watching the trees go by.

Melchior nodded. "No, you haven't had an easy life, you're right. First your parents get murdered, then you grow up with those Dursleys, and then when you're finally among your kind, they reject you completely. And now here we are, with you isolated and outcast."

"I'm used to it," Harry said. He felt bile rising up his throat as he continued. "And I didn't understand at first, right? I mean… look, there I was, in the Great Hall, getting sorted. And people stared at me before that, so at least I had a week or so to get used to being in the spotlights all the time, but at least some were kind to me. Sort of. You know? And then the Sorting Hat tells me I could be great at Slytherin, but no one ever told me what would happen if I got sorted there! If someone had just told me: "Harry, mate, bit of advice: don't get sorted in Slytherin," I would have just refused to go there and it would have all been fine!"

"Do you regret being in Slytherin? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes, of course! Or… Well, I probably wouldn't have gotten to know Daphne, but at least I wouldn't be bullied and hated all the time, you know?"

Melchior didn't reply immediately. They reached the edge of the ravine, and turned onto the road uphill.

"And who says you wouldn't have been so hated if you weren't in Slytherin?" He asked eventually.

"Well it's obvious, right? People hate Slytherin. I'm a Slytherin, so they hate me."

"Those people would still be the same people, Harry. Whether you are a Slytherin or a Gryffindor, a man or a woman, Pureblood or Muggleborn, they would still be bigots. Yes, they would maybe be kind to you, maybe, but they would still be bigots. Do you want that? Do you want to be friends with those people when you know they all happily discriminate others like that?"

Harry paused. "But Ginny said she hated me at first, too," he objected. "And she's my friend."

"Yes, that's true. Her parents, and from what I heard, especially her brother Ronald did enough to make her think badly of you. But she still gave you a chance. She looked past her beliefs and what she was taught, and saw the person you really are. There aren't many people as good as her, or Remus Lupin, or Hagrid."

"Or Daphne, or Fred and George…"

"Yes, exactly. But back to what I was talking about. Because I wanted to ask you something. Isn't it odd that you always seem to be at the centre of it all?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. First, when you are just a baby, Voldemort comes to your house. Not to kill your parents, but just to kill you."

"How do you know that?"

"What is it you hear when you're near Dementors?"

Harry swallowed and looked out of the window and into the ravine. "I hear my Mum. And Voldemort. Mum begs him not to kill me… to take her instead."

"And Voldemort? What does Voldemort say?"

"He tells her to stand aside."

"Exactly!" Melchior prodded the steering wheel to accentuate his point. "He was there for _you_ , not your parents!"

"But what does that mean?" Harry asked, feeling very uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Well that's the question! Let's move forward, to your first year. Voldemort almost comes back by stealing the Philosopher's Stone, but it is _you_ of all people who stop him."

"But that could have been anyone! It was just that I was the only one to know he was going to steal the stone that night."

"True, true. But it was still you who did it. Strange coincidence, isn't it? On to your second year. Voldemort uses another student to lure _you_ into the Chamber of Secrets, and I'll point out to you that this is the second time Voldemort tries to kill you at Hogwarts. But what I find interesting was that Ginny told you he became obsessed with you-"

"But that was only because he knew I was the cause of his defeat! He just wanted to finish the job!"

"And why did he start it in the first place?"

Harry opened his mouth, but he stopped short.

"Exactly," Melchior said. "We don't know. And again, it was _you_ of all people that went there and stopped Voldemort. Not Dumbledore, not Ginny's brothers, not her parents, not the Ministry. _You_."

"That was just because I overheard the teachers talk about it! Anyone would've-"

"And why were you there, out and about while McGonagall ordered everyone to stay in their dormitories?"

Harry said nothing.

"Why? And that wasn't a one-off thing either, was it?"

"But-"

"Do you honestly mean to tell me that it was all a coincidence? You damn well know it's not." He held up his finger to stop Harry from interrupting. "You know, Selene told me she overheard something quite remarkable last fall, when I ordered her to spy on you."

Harry shifted in his seat, but Melchior carried on without taking his eyes off the road.

"Yes, she told me that when you and Ginny talked about that night she was taken to the Chamber of Secrets, you mentioned that you somehow knew that _something_ was off. Isn't that right?"

"Yes," Harry said reluctantly. He knew exactly what Melchior was hinting towards. The strange, wild surges of emotions. The horrible thrill he felt when he hurt Professor Lupin to clear him from any suspicion, the almost overwhelming compulsion to do more than just cut his arm. That strange pull he felt, when…

"And then you said that wasn't the first time you felt that odd feeling. Every time when Ginny was forced to do unleash the Basilisk, you felt it. What was it you said? _"It was as if I needed to be there… Like part of me was out there…"_ Right, Harry? Isn't that what you said to her?"

"No, you don't know that," Harry pleaded.

"And that feeling led you straight to Ginny every time she happened to carry around that diary. And I'd be willing to bet you felt that same feeling too that night Voldemort tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone a year earlier. Did you?"

"No!"

"Did you?" Melchior demanded. He looked away from the road and met Harry's gaze.

"It doesn't have to mean anything," Harry whispered. He broke eye contact and looked away. "I could have imagined it…"

They turned a corner and arrived at the small clearing near the house that served as a parking spot. Melchior said nothing while he parked. They exited the car and he grabbed Harry's rucksack from the boot. He did surprise Harry, though, by laying his hand on his shoulder as they walked the last remaining distance towards the house side by side.

"Harry, look at me."

Harry looked up and met the man's gaze. He thought he looked strangely emotional.

"I wish for a lot of things, Harry," he sighed, and looked ahead again. "I truly wish I could tell you it meant nothing. That you could just walk away right now and never have anything to do with Voldemort ever again." He sighed and looked in front of him again. "I wish I could tell you what this connection between you and him is, too. Because it is a connection, I'm sure of it. And I wish…" The house came into view and Melchior trailed off.

"Godverdomme…"

Harry should have known. Of course it wasn't over yet. He should have known that when the Aurors took Ginny, they would find her piece of the Rock and be lead straight to Melchior's house.

One by one, a dozen Aurors were entering the house. They all had their wands out and Harry could hear shouting coming from inside. Buckbeak was tied in chains again. The four Aurors that were busy tying the Hippogriff to a sturdy-looking pine tree cast nervous glances towards the house, exchanged a few words and three of the four ran into the house as well.

Melchior roughly pulled Harry behind the large boulder, the same that Harry and Ginny sometimes used as a place to lounge and talk.

"How in the bloody hell did they break through the protections?" Harry demanded Melchior. He looked beyond furious.

"I don't know. But there's no time to think about that now." He swore and ran his hands through his hair. "Harry, you wanted to know what I had underneath my kitchen, right?"

"What's that got to do with this?"

"What I have stashed there are enough explosives to erase the house from the face of the earth completely," Melchior said. Harry's mouth fell open.

"Listen to me," he hissed. "No protection is perfect, and if, or when the protections here would be broken, I'd rather destroy any trace of me than leave it all up for other people to sniff through. It happened once before, and it cost me damn well everything. I will not have that happening again."

"What are you talking about? What cost you everything?" Harry asked, raising his voice. He didn't even think about not being detected. Ginny was captured, Sirius was in there with the Aurors, and now this…

"Disillusion yourself completely, Harry. Follow me, and whatever you do, don't reveal yourself. Grab Sirius if he isn't dead yet, and flee with Buckbeak."

"But-"

"The keyword to set off the ignition is _"Forgone and Forfeit"._ Keep that in mind. The moment you say that, it'll blow."

"Why didn't it go off now?"

"It wasn't activated yet." He waved his wand in the direction of the house. "But it is now. Let's go."

Harry, hoping, praying that Sirius was still alive, quickly cast a Disillusionment Charm, and he and Melchior got up from behind the boulder.

The sole Auror that was outside with Buckbeak saw it immediately. The tall man's eyes widened, but he never got the chance to alert the others. Melchior swished his wand at him and sent the Auror hurling through the air. He soared away through the trees and disappeared from sight.

Harry had to run to keep up with Melchior, who was marching towards the house, and in no-time the man burst through his front door. Harry slipped in after him, stepped over something and pressed himself into the corner near the stairs.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!" Melchior thundered, and all activity stopped immediately. Harry could see almost a dozen Aurors in the room, but he couldn't see Sirius.

"Calm down, sir!" The commander of the Aurors, the same man that looked so oddly like a lion, snapped. "We are with the law enforcement, and we are here because we followed two wanted British criminals here. We found one of them. Do you know this man?" He pointed at the thing Harry had stepped over a minute ago. It was Sirius, slumped against the shoe rack. He was bound in ropes, but still breathing.

Melchior regarded Sirius for a moment.

"Never seen him in my life," he said contemptuously. "You're British Aurors, aren't you?"

"That is correct," the commander said.

"I want you to leave my house, right now. You have no right to be in this country, let alone to turn over my entire house!"

"We will leave soon, and your house will back the way it were. You have my promise on that. But, like I said, we are looking for two wanted fugitives, and we've found one of them in your house. That's a bit strange, don't you think?" The commander asked.

"Stop asking stupid questions. I've never seen this man before in my life."

"And you're absolutely sure the names Sirius Black and Harry Potter don't ring a bell to you?"

"I might have heard of them. I do read the news occasionally," Melchior grumbled. He took three brisk paces across the room, pushing several Aurors out of the way as he did so, and started setting up the sofas again. Everything was turned over and out of place. Books were everywhere, pages were ripped out and fluttered in the breeze coming in through the open door, the sofas and the couch lay on their sides. Harry could see through the door opening on the other side of the room that the kitchen was just as ruined as the living room.

One Auror, a man with grey hair and a wrinkled, worn-down face, leaned in close to the commander and whispered something. The commander nodded.

"I presume you are Melchior Naaktgeboren?" He said to Melchior. "Jackson recognised you. The last time the Ministry saw any sign of you was in 1978. You were presumed dead."

"I fled," Melchior said. He set the couch right. "Had no business in your godforsaken country anymore. Now," he turned to the group of Aurors and raised his wand. "I'm not going to ask again. Leave my house."

"Understandable," the leader said kindly, looking unperturbed and ignoring the threat. "I was there myself, when we investigated it, actually. I was just a junior Auror back in the day, just graduated from the academy. And one of the first cases I worked on was yours. You know, for a young man to see such a horrific crime scene… After all these years I still vividly remember that scene where we thought you and all those others died. Horrific, truly horrific-"

"You shut up!" Melchior snarled. Several Aurors reached for their wand. "Don't you dare talk about that, Scrimgeour! You shut your mouth now, or I swear there won't even be a finger left of you!"

"Please, Melchior, lower your wand!" one of the Aurors next to Scrimgeour said.

"Alan Carthwick!" Melchior spat, waving his wand at the man. "All grown up now! Working for the Ministry now, I see? Dear Elena would be proud of you! Not that we would know, of course, since she's _dead._ " The sarcasm and malice with which he said that shocked Harry. The man named Alan winced and looked away.

"I understand your grief, sir," Scrimgeour said. "But would you mind lowering your wand? No one needs to get hurt here, after all." He spoke calmly. "Put your wand away, and I'm sure we can all talk this through when this is all settled. I just need to ask you a few questions, and then we'll leave the house and take this man away." He pointed at Sirius' slumped form.

"No one will get hurt," Melchior said, no longer as angry. "No more." He sighed and, to Harry's complete surprise, he pocketed his wand without further protest.

Another Auror came downstairs. Harry recognized her pink hair from the fight in Paris.

"Sir!" She said. She nearly came in contact with Harry as she walked past him. "I've found evidence of Potter, Black, and Weasley in the bedrooms upstairs. It looks like they've been living here for quite some time already."

Scrimgeour nodded at her and narrowed his eyes at Melchior.

"Well, that does complicate things, doesn't it? Proudfoot? Search him," he said. A burly man, who looked about the same age as the woman with pink hair, stepped forward.

But Melchior just kept standing there, doing nothing at all. Harry watched in mounting panic as Proudfoot first took Melchior's wand, and then started patting his pants and coat.

"There's something large in here," the man said, and he fished out the jar containing Pettigrew.

It all happened so quickly.

Proudfoot, upon seeing the large rat, jumped and dropped the jar. It shattered into a million pieces and Pettigrew took his chance to flee immediately. Melchior dived forward in a last attempt to capture him again.

It was the last thing he ever did.

The Aurors reacted without hesitation to the sudden movement, and a dozen spells impacted the man before he could react. For a moment he floated in the air eerily, his greying hair fluttering in a non-existent breeze, his body emitting a strange glow. Then he was hurled backwards, and the back of his head impacted the stone hearth.

His skull cracked open with a sickening sound, and Melchior slumped to the ground. He laid there against the fireplace, staring up with half-lidded eyes, and he didn't move anymore.

Harry barely managed to avoid making a sound, and it was only through that shock that he didn't vomit right there at the sight of Melchior's brains splattered all over the hearth while blood steadily flowed through his hair and spread out on the wooden floor. He somehow kept it together.

In automatic fashion, he moved past the group of Aurors. All of them only had eyes for the corpse that lay there, and in the chaos of them moving around to start cleaning up the room they didn't notice Harry disillusioning Sirius and levitate him out of the kicked-in door.

He didn't know how he crossed the clearing in front of the house. He didn't know how he managed to free Buckbeak and coax him away from the house, and he didn't know how the Aurors still hadn't noticed that Sirius had gone missing.

He found himself standing there in the clearing, basking in the last rays of sunshine. He lowered Sirius to the ground and lifted the disillusion spell. He hesitated, and turned around to look at the house.

He didn't have to. He could fly away right now.

Buckbeak pulled on the chain that Harry was holding.

He didn't have to.

Yet something cold entered his soul, and for a moment Harry was a bystander in his own body, and he could only watch, feel his body being used. A moment was all it took.

He then turned around, levitated the unconscious Sirius onto Buckbeak's back and bound him so that he wouldn't fall off. Then he got on the animal, and seated himself in front of Sirius.

He didn't look back, and so he didn't see how the small wooden house exploded in a large ball of fire, killing the ones inside immediately. He didn't look back.

He numbly sailed away.

* * *

 _End of part 1_

 **Author's notes:** thank you very much for reading part 1 of 3 of this story! It means a lot to me. Part 2 is underway, but I won't publish it until it's complete, so it might take a few months (maybe more) for it to arrive.


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